Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
Ours is a culture based on excess, on overproduction; the result is a steady loss of sharpness in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life - its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness - conjoin to dull our sensory faculties
Interpretation
What this quote means
The modern culture, characterized by excess and overproduction, diminishes our ability to fully experience life with acute senses.
In this quote, Susan Sontag critiques contemporary culture, suggesting that its focus on abundance and material wealth leads to a numbing of our sensory experiences. She argues that our surroundings, filled with surplus and overcrowdedness, have a diluting effect on our perceptions, causing us to become less aware and appreciative of the richness of life.
Themes
CultureExcessSensationExperienceModern Life
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on consumerism, one might use this quote to highlight the drawbacks of material wealth.
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All quotes →Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
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Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
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Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
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In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
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It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
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