Sontag Against Interpretation Theory And Its Practice In Fiction

Susan Sontag is a famous literary critic and writer in America. In1966, she published Against Interpretation. After the publication of this book, there was an intense discussion in the literary field. In this book, she criticized the current critical style and put forward the concept of Against Interpretation. This theory includes two connotations. Firstly, it is opposed to the simplified interpretations of art works, particularly those of psychology interpretations and sociology interpretations. Secondly, this theory encourages the literary critics to pay more attention on the form rather than the content of the literary works, and encourages the readers to focus on the glamour of artistic forms of the works. Susan Sontag not only put forward Against Interpretation but also put this theory into practice in her works. The Benefactor and Death Kit are the representative works among them."Dream" and "death" are key words of the novels, and they also build the main basis of the novels. Susan Sontag not only applied "dream" and "death" into her discussion of the real look of human life, but also carried out her Against Interpretation. This study will analyze Against Interpretation and then study its practice and application in The Benefactor and Death Kit.