A Study Of Susan Sontag’s Theory Of “Illness As Metaphor”

Susan Sontag(1933-2004),a famous American theorist and writer,is known as“the conscience of the American public”.Sontag wrote many essays.However,Sontag,who suffered from cancer three times in her life,is most closely related to her thinking about illness,and the profound experience of illness makes disease an important theme in Sontag’s works.Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor in 1978,after recovering from breast cancer.In 1988,Sontag wrote AIDS and Its Metaphors.In addition to these two articles,Sontag’s play Alice in Bed and novels such as The Way We Live Now,Baby,Death Kit and The Volcano Lover all have a lot of thoughts and descriptions on disease and metaphor.The theory of “Illness as Metaphor” runs through Sontag’s philosophical thought and literary creation,and is closely related to Sontag’s whole theory.To connect the theory of “Illness as Metaphor” with Sontag’s whole thought,fictional creation and social and cultural context is a necessary prerequisite to understand Sontag’s works.It is also a necessary way to point out the absurdity of “Illness as Metaphor” and observe the narrative of disease in the current era.Therefore,this study takes Susan Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor” theory as the research object,step by step,analyzes the source,connotation and solution of the“Illness as Metaphor” theory,and explores the contemporary narrative of disease.This study is divided into three parts: introduction,text and conclusion.The text is divided into four chapters:The first chapter analyzes Sontag’s life and the source of “Illness as Metaphor”.From Sontag’s personal life and disease,social and cultural context,and the occurrence history of the “Illness as Metaphor”,this study explores the ideological source of the “Illness as Metaphor” theory.First,focus on Sontag in life.Her father’s tuberculosis and childhood asthma seared the disease into Sontag’s memory at age 5,until she was awakened in 1975,the year she was diagnosed with breast cancer,from which she was blessed with a full recovery.In 1998,Sontag developed uterine cancer,which she fought until her death from leukemia in 2004.The experience of illness deepened Sontag’s understanding of “Illness as Metaphor”.While thinking,Sontag also obtained salvation in the literary world through reading.Sontag was deeply influenced by the personality and creation of writers such as Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849),Thomas Mann(1875-1955),Jean-Paul Sartre(1905-1980),Franz Kafka(1883-1924),Albert Camus(1913-1960),etc.Literature helped Sontag to realize that her father’s tuberculosis was not a stigmatized disease,and to continue thinking about “Illness as Metaphor”.Literature made Sontag what she was.Secondly,from the Black movement and counter-culture movement in the United States in the 1960 s to Sontag’s visit to Hanoi in 1968,to people’s misunderstanding of “Against Interpretation” and “New Sensibility” in the 1970 s and 1980 s,combined with the unreal belief shaped by medical ideology,this study explores the promotion of social and cultural context to Sontag’s theoretical writing.Finally,through the investigation of the occurrence history of “Illness as Metaphor”,the ancient source of disease metaphorical thinking is clarified.The second chapter analyzes the implication of Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor”theory.“Against Interpretation” is similar to the critical spirit of “Illness as Metaphor”,and has the same critical path.Criticizing “Illness as Metaphor” is a sociological practice of “Against Interpretation”.The “Shadow World” created by the “Illness as Metaphor” can be exposed by examining the “Illness as Metaphor” theory from the perspective of “Against Interpretation”.Based on “Intentional Interpretation” and“Transformative Interpretation”,this study analyzes the connotation of Sontag’s“Illness as Metaphor” theory from four aspects: cultural suppression,“Othering”,moral judgment and military metaphor,clarifies Sontag’s viewpoint that “illness is illness”,and analyzes the definition and construction of “Illness as Metaphor”.The third chapter explores the solution to break through the barrier of “Illness as Metaphor”.“Illness as Metaphor” overwhelms body perception and makes people ignore their own experience and turn to deep interpretation of the object.Illness is gradually shaped into an illusion and people lose their feelings and understanding of the body.“Illness as Metaphor” ignores and betrays the body.So Sontag raised the flag of sensibility,particularly in the diseased body.Alice in Bed,The Way We Live Now and other literary works reflect Sontag’s attention to the survival and struggle of the sick body.In the end,Sontag hoped to return to the body sensibility silently,hoping to cure the erosion of the body sensibility caused by the “Illness as Metaphor”with “Silence”.The fourth chapter analyzes the metaphor of disease and the narrative of disease in the current era.The discussion of disease and “Illness as Metaphor” has penetrated into every corner of social life and changed people’s way of thinking,and there is no lack of disease narrative in art creation.Echoing Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor”theory,the thinking on the disease narrative in the current era focuses on the mental survival of the diseased body,arouses the discussion on health crisis and ethical relationship,guides people to establish a positive view of disease and builds social public health consciousness.To sum up,the research idea of this study is progressive.From the theoretical source,to the connotation direction,and then to the solution,and on the basis of observing the narrative of disease,it deepens the understanding of Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor” theory.This study tries to fully and accurately interpret Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor” theory,observe the narrative of disease in the current era,and try to break through the barriers of “Illness as Metaphor”.