ABSTRACT
The eulogy or laudatory essay form is not well understood or studied, and yet Susan Sontag produces one of her strongest volume of essays in that form, the collection Under the Sign of Saturn. The essays in this collection show her indebtedness to the men of the past, particularly Barthes, Artaud, and Benjamin, as well as taking issue with other figures. By drawing this collection into dialogue with her friend Hannah Arendt’s collection, Men in Dark Times—a possible model for Sontag’s volume—this chapter examines the ways that the laudatory essay celebrates those from the past while also drawing a distinct line about what values can compel the writer forward. In my discussion of Arendt’s volume, I offer analysis of the poets she considers (Randall Jarrell, Ezra Pound, and Bertolt Brecht) wherein her strongest statement on the arts is made, as well as her essay on Walter Benjamin. Neither collection has received the critical discussion it deserves, and this chapter seeks to remedy that omission.
