Contextual Research Presentation Week 12
The reading material for this week is a short novel length essay by Susan Sontag entitled Regarding The Pain Of Others. The essay analyzes the various uses of photography in relation to war and its effects on society. Sontag is responding to an exchange between an unknown male lawyer and Virginia Woolf in the late 1930s, in which they discuss how to work together to prevent war (Sontag).
Virginia Woolf was a well-known feminist and pacifist who, like many, was angered by the growing tensions and imminent threat of another horrific war after having lived through the first World War (Reid). During this time period, sexism and fascism were constantly on the rise and threatened the way of life throughout Europe, where Virginia spent her whole life. Despite the atrocities of the great war, the rise of fascism hinted to the coming of the next great war and with it came wide-spread fear. The spread of Nazism accounted for much of the fear, but there were multiple political movements that resulted in increased tensions, including Marxism, Communism, and Fascism in multiple countries. All of these combined to increase these fears and prompting the communication between Virginia Woolf and the lawyer (Herzstein).
Woolf wrote the novel Three Guineas in response to a letter from the lawyer containing three questions about war and preventing it during this time period. Woolf used photographs along with her essay response to the lawyers questions to demonstrate the terror that these regimes created through their destruction and terror. Although much of both Three Guineas and Regarding the Pain of Others focus on the effect of the photographs in relation to the wars, the fear and hatred of war persists even today (Sontag). Governments have changed, but the observations made are still relevant and incredibly important.
Herzstein, Robert Edwin. “Movietone News and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, 1930-1935: A Guide for the Researcher, Teacher, and Student.” The History Teacher, vol. 21, no. 3, May 1988, p. 313., doi:10.2307/492998.
Reid, Panthea. “Virginia Woolf.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Oct. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Woolf.
Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. Penguin Books, 2003.
Great post! I thought it was especially interesting how you pointed out Virginia Woolf’s intentional use of photography with her essay to create a more powerful message. Photographs often work to create greater understandings of situations that cannot be adequately described with just words, and both Sontag and Woolf tried to emphasize this truth.
I think you did great. I think this week’s reading is more interesting. Like you brought the differences of Sontag and Woolf’s interpretation out. Photographs are quite the key to many of what we know and think we believe in. Good job.
Nice work, I thought your post was well worded and had a good structure about it. The information was also helpful/ interesting to me. Overall, I enjoyed your post.
Thanks for your great post! The wars, the fear and hatred of war persists today are
deeply rooted in some people’s heart.
I really appreciate what you share with us! We all know that Fascism has deeply impacted people’s life at that time, and it still exists now. One of my friends in Berlin shared a story with me weeks ago, saying that a Nazi logo was painted outside their residential building. She and her friends were afraid of what might happen.