author research

Susan Sontag

Sontag began writing in fiction, but garnered more attention once she began writing essays. She wrote a lot about art and culture, and was a notable activist too. She was criticised for her writings on race, in which she criticised western white civilisation. She appears to have been a fierce and uncompromising woman, quite admirable.

I like this quote and writing (I found on her wikipedia page)

"In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notion of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe" and has changed our "viewing ethics". Photographs have increased our access to knowledge and experiences of history and faraway places, but the images may replace direct experience and limit reality. She also states that photography desensitizes its audience to horrific human experiences, and children are exposed to experiences before they are ready for them."

Oliver Sacks

Sacks was a neurologist and author, and wrote books based on his experiences as a doctor and more importantly, the experiences of his patients. My first thought when reading this was wondering how he could do this under patient-doctor confidentialities (although it's obvious he must have some permissions) and how he would avoid exploiting patients and being too anecdotal through this kind of writing. Some have criticised him for exploitation, and without reading any of his work my first impression of anyone doing that would be so, but he has mostly been described as "compassionate" which I would like to believe, and the mass praise of his life in light of his death would also suggest that.

Haruki Murakami

Murakami is a Japanese contemporary writer, writing fiction and non-fiction. His stories are based in the 'real world' but with surreal touches, sometimes with themes of parallel worlds. His work can often be melancholic, and he cites western culture, particularly in literary circles as inspiration, and has been criticised as not being "japanese enough"

I have chosen to work with Murakami's work. I like the idea of surreal worlds not wholly dissimilar to real life- I have little interest in fantasy and typical sci-fi but am interested in the rich imagery of Murakami's work, whether it be 'real' or metaphorical.

I am interested in reading Oliver Sacks work in trepidation of how he deals with his real life subjects, but not for this project.