''Regarding the Pain of Others'' is a 2003 book-length essay by

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay " Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. He ...

, which was nominated for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".On Photography ''On Photography'' is a 1977 collection of essays by Susan Sontag. It originally appeared as a series of essays in the ''New York Review of Books'' between 1973 and 1977. Contents In the book, Sontag expresses her views on the history and prese ...

,'' despite the fact that the two essay collections convey Sontag's radically different opinions about photography. The essay is especially interested in

war photography War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war ...

. Using photography as evidence for her opinions, Sontag sets out to answer one of the three questions posed in

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

's book '' Three Guineas'', "How in your opinion are we to prevent war?" While debunking a certain number of common misconceptions (including some to which she contributed) concerning images of pain, horror, and atrocity, ''Regarding the Pain of Others'' both underscores their importance and undercuts hopes that they can communicate very much. On the one hand, narrative and framing confer upon images most of their meaning, and on the other, Sontag says, those who have not lived through such things "can't understand, can't imagine" the experiences such images represent.Susan Sontag, ''Regarding the Pain of Others'' (New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), 126.

References

2003 non-fiction books Works by Susan Sontag Books about war photography Farrar, Straus and Giroux books {{Susan Sontag