January 14, 2005

The Newspaper Appreciation as Death Kit

By CARLIN ROMANO

The instant journalistic "appreciations" of Susan Sontag after her death last month at 71 emphasized, as quick pieces must when knocked out in a race with the obituary writers, the feats that made her famous rather than the characteristics that made her Susan Sontag.

The death kit worked this way. Take a few of the most famous aphorisms from Column A (e.g., "The white race is the cancer of human history"), a selection of books from Column B (e.g., On Photography, The Volcano Lover),

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