Susan Sontag, in “Against Interpretation,” takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Unlike most literary critics, Sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly “appreciate” and “respect.” Her standpoint could not be more accurate. Reading her work generates numerous questions, the most important of which is quite possibly, “How are we to take her final statement, ‘In place …showed first 75 words of 524 total…

…showed last 75 words of 524 total…to ask how else she could have more effectively driven home her point. It is practically necessary to meet someone on their terms first if you hope to convert them to yours. Sontag has done this because she has little other choice. She has so effectively made her point, with the proper amount of respect, that her target, the modern critic, is in no position to resent Sontag’s statements without first acknowledging their veracity.