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{{Short description|1964 essay by Susan Sontag}}
⚫ "'''Notes on 'Camp{{'}}'''" is an essay by ] first published in 1964.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sontag |first1=Susan |title=Notes on 'Camp' |journal=Partisan Review |date=Fall 1964 |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=515–530}}</ref> It was her first contribution to the '']''. The essay created a literary sensation and brought Sontag intellectual notoriety. It was republished in 1966 in Sontag's debut collection of essays, '']''.<ref>{{cite web |last=DeMott |first=Benjamin |authorlink=Benjamin DeMott |title=Lady on the Scene |work=] |date=January 23, 1966 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/23/archives/lady-on-the-scene-lady-on-the-scene.html |url-access=subscription |accessdate=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714133425/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/23/books/booksspecial/sontag-interpretation.html|archive-date=July 14, 2017 |department=The New York Times Book Review |pages=5, 32 |volume=115 | issue = 39,446 }}</ref>


]
The essay codified and mainstreamed the cultural connotations of the word "]" and identified camp's evolution as a distinct aesthetic phenomenon.{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}}
"'''Notes on 'Camp''''" is a 1964 essay by ] that brought the aesthetic sensibility known as "]" to mainstream consciousness.<ref>{{Cite youtube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7J7ZBDKxFw |title=What Is Camp? These Sci-Fi Movies Explain |date=Jun 1, 2023 |language=en |publisher=] |series=Film 101 |access-date=2023-10-30}}</ref><ref name="NOC-2018" />


==Background==
]'s essay "Juniors and Heavies",<ref>{{cite web |last=Bayer |first=William |title=Juniors and Heavies |work=Breaking Through, Selling Out, Dropping Dead And Other Notes On Filmmaking |date=1971 |url=http://thecuria.com/jh |accessdate=May 5, 2017}}</ref> originally published in his 1971 book ''Breaking Through, Selling Out, Dropping Dead And Other Notes On Filmmaking'', was patterned after "Notes On Camp". (Bayer referred to Sontag's essay in the new material he contributed to the book's 1989 revised edition.)
"Notes on 'Camp{{'"}} was first published as an essay in 1964, and was her first contribution to the '']''.<ref name="NOC-1964">{{cite journal |last1=Sontag |first1=Susan |title=Notes on 'Camp' |journal=Partisan Review |date=Fall 1964 |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=515–530}}</ref> The essay attracted interest in Sontag.


⚫ The essay was republished in 1966 in Sontag's debut collection of essays, '']''.<ref>{{cite web |last=DeMott |first=Benjamin |authorlink=Benjamin DeMott |title=Lady on the Scene |work=] |date=January 23, 1966 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/23/archives/lady-on-the-scene-lady-on-the-scene.html |url-access=subscription |accessdate=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714133425/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/23/books/booksspecial/sontag-interpretation.html|archive-date=July 14, 2017 |department=The New York Times Book Review |pages=5, 32 |volume=115 | issue = 39,446 }}</ref> The essay considers meanings and connotations of the word "]".<ref name="NOC-2018">Sontag, Susan. ''Notes on "Camp".'' Penguin Random House (2018). {{ISBN|978-0241339701}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
The essay is structured with a brief introduction, followed by a list of 58 "notes" on what camp is, or might be.

] is mentioned in Sontag's essay: "Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel '']'' (1954), has hardly broken into print."<ref name="NOC-2018" /> In Isherwood's novel two characters are discussing the meaning of camp, both High and Low. Stephen Monk, the protagonist, says:

<blockquote>You thought it meant a swishy little boy with peroxided hair, dressed in a picture hat and a feather boa, pretending to be ]? Yes, in queer circles they call ''that'' camping. … You can call Low Camp…High Camp is the whole emotional basis for ballet, for example, and of course of baroque art … High Camp always has an underlying seriousness. You can't camp about something you don't take seriously. You're not making fun of it, you're making fun out of it. You're expressing what’s basically serious to you in terms of fun and artifice and elegance. Baroque art is basically camp about religion. The ballet is camp about love …<ref>Isherwood, Christopher. ''The World in the Evening''. University of Minnesota Press. 2012 p. 10 {{ISBN|9780099561149}}</ref></blockquote>

Then examples are given: ], ] and ] are camp; ], ] and ] are not.<ref>Isherwood, Christopher. ''The World in the Evening’’. University of Minnesota Press. 2012 {{ISBN|9780099561149}} p. 10-11</ref>

==Legacy==
The 2019 ] art exhibit '']'', presented by the ] at New York City's ], was built around Sontag's essay by ], the ] of the Costume Institute.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Presents "Camp: Notes on Fashion" for Its Spring 2019 Exhibition |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/costume-institute-2019-exhibition-camp-notes-on-fashion |access-date=2019-06-03 |website=Vogue |date=9 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bekhrad |first=Joobin |title=What does it mean to be camp? |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190503-what-does-it-mean-to-be-camp |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
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==External links== ==External links==
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{{Susan Sontag}}

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Latest revision as of 21:29, 2 May 2024

1964 essay by Susan Sontag
The cover of Against Interpretation (1966), which contains Sontag's essay

"Notes on 'Camp'" is a 1964 essay by Susan Sontag that brought the aesthetic sensibility known as "camp" to mainstream consciousness.

Background

"Notes on 'Camp'" was first published as an essay in 1964, and was her first contribution to the Partisan Review. The essay attracted interest in Sontag.

The essay was republished in 1966 in Sontag's debut collection of essays, Against Interpretation. The essay considers meanings and connotations of the word "camp".

Synopsis

The essay is structured with a brief introduction, followed by a list of 58 "notes" on what camp is, or might be.

Christopher Isherwood is mentioned in Sontag's essay: "Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel The World in the Evening (1954), has hardly broken into print." In Isherwood's novel two characters are discussing the meaning of camp, both High and Low. Stephen Monk, the protagonist, says:

You thought it meant a swishy little boy with peroxided hair, dressed in a picture hat and a feather boa, pretending to be Marlene Dietrich? Yes, in queer circles they call that camping. … You can call Low Camp…High Camp is the whole emotional basis for ballet, for example, and of course of baroque art … High Camp always has an underlying seriousness. You can't camp about something you don't take seriously. You're not making fun of it, you're making fun out of it. You're expressing what’s basically serious to you in terms of fun and artifice and elegance. Baroque art is basically camp about religion. The ballet is camp about love …

Then examples are given: Mozart, El Greco and Dostoevsky are camp; Beethoven, Flaubert and Rembrandt are not.

Legacy

The 2019 haute couture art exhibit Camp: Notes on Fashion, presented by the Anna Wintour Costume Center at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, was built around Sontag's essay by Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute.

See also

References

  1. What Is Camp? These Sci-Fi Movies Explain. Film 101. Turner Classic Movies. Jun 1, 2023. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  2. ^ Sontag, Susan. Notes on "Camp". Penguin Random House (2018). ISBN 978-0241339701
  3. Sontag, Susan (Fall 1964). "Notes on 'Camp'". Partisan Review. 31 (4): 515–530.
  4. DeMott, Benjamin (January 23, 1966). "Lady on the Scene". The New York Times Book Review. The New York Times. pp. 5, 32. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  5. Isherwood, Christopher. The World in the Evening. University of Minnesota Press. 2012 p. 10 ISBN 9780099561149
  6. Isherwood, Christopher. The World in the Evening’’. University of Minnesota Press. 2012 ISBN 9780099561149 p. 10-11
  7. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Presents "Camp: Notes on Fashion" for Its Spring 2019 Exhibition". Vogue. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  8. Bekhrad, Joobin. "What does it mean to be camp?". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2023-10-30.

External links

Works by Susan Sontag
Nonfiction
Essay collections
Monographs
Fiction
Plays
  • A Parsifal
  • Alice in Bed
  • Lady from the Sea
Films
Other works
  • Reborn: Journals and Notebooks 1947–1963
  • As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964–1980
Related
Categories: