JOHNSON AND SONTAG

Check out Mark Stevens’ interesting and tough assessment of the late architect Philip Johnson in the NYT. Fair and revealing – especially about Johnson’s flirtation and endorsement of fascism (which he later renounced). Now can you imagine a similar piece appearing about Susan Sontag’s flirtation and endorsement of communism, her racist claims about white people, and her constant attraction to murderous tyrants, such as Castro or the acolytes of bin Laden? None of this detracts from her considerable skills as a critic. But it puts her work in the context of a disfiguring, ideological defense of tyranny. Yes, she renounced much of it. But so did Johnson.