Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors

8vo, br. ed. 183pp. In 1978 Susan Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor, a classic work described by Newsweek as "one of the most liberating books of its time." A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is--just a disease. Cancer, she argues, is not a curse, not a punishment, certainly not an embarrassment and, it is highly curable, if good treatment is followed. Almost a decade later, with the outbreak of a new, stigmatized disease replete with mystifications and punitive metaphors, Sontag wrote a sequel to Illness as Metaphor, extending the argument of the earlier book to the AIDS pandemic. These two essays now published together, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, have been translated into many languages and continue to have an enormous influence on the thinking of medical professionals and, above all, on the lives of many thousands of patients and caregivers. From the Publisher: Brimming with humane and original ideas about a disease and the modern condition, this classic essay and its sequel -- written 10 years later -- are compassionate exhortations and a liberating event. "Taken together, the two essays are an exemplary demonstration of the power of the intellect in the face of the lethal metaphors of fear." -- The Nation "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.