QuoteProject
Perversity is the muse of modern literature.
Susan Sontag
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The complexities and darker aspects of human nature inspire contemporary artistic expression.

Susan Sontag's quote suggests that perverse themes, which may involve moral ambiguity or unconventional narratives, are central to modern literature. This idea emphasizes how artists often draw inspiration from the complexities and contradictions of human beings, allowing for a deeper exploration of societal issues and personal struggles.

Themes

PerversityLiteratureInspirationArtModern

In practice

Example use cases

During a literature discussion on the influence of darker themes in storytelling.

More from Susan Sontag

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
Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
Susan SontagRead
Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
Susan SontagRead
Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
Susan SontagRead
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.
Susan SontagRead
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.
Susan SontagRead

Similar quotes

Modernity signifies the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art of which the other half is the eternal and the immutable.
Charles BaudelaireRead
To those supporters who were told that I abandoned them, that is untrue. I abandoned greed, corruption, and compromise, never you, and never the artistic gifts and abilities that sustained me.
Lauryn HillRead
Let my name perish, -- the poetry is good poetry and the music is good music,_x000D_ and beauty dieth not, and the heart that needs it will find it.
Sidney LanierRead
How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
Nina SimoneRead
There's something peculiar about writing fiction. It requires an interesting balance between seeing the world as a child and having the wisdom of a middle-aged person. The further you get from childhood and the experience of the teenage years, the greater the danger of losing that wellspring.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
You don't have to be singing specifically about things that are going on in your life, but because of the nature of music, because it is this incredibly emotional phenomenon, everything that you are feeling or experiencing is relayed in the music you put out.
SealRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.