Split vote on Susan Sontag

Thank you for the splendid, personal account by Tim Rutten of his friendship with Susan Sontag [“The Life of a Restless Mind,” Dec. 29]. I too feel the loss of this lively, intellectual woman -- almost as though we had been personal friends.

Sontag has influenced my reading over the years, led me to writers I might never have encountered (Sandor Marai, Karoly Pap, many more) and thus been denied the brilliance and humanity of their work.

How sorely this distorted world needs people who offer their humane vision, bravely.

Peggy Aylsworth Levine

Santa Monica

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Most of Susan Sontag’s life and works were dedicated to an attempt to convince us that, even from an early age, she was our intellectual superior. To accomplish this, she wrote in an indecipherable fog about esoteric topics.

However, she was very practical when it came to attracting the praise and promotion of liberals. To do this, she wrote very clearly (some say inaccurately) in condemning the U.S.’ domestic and foreign policies. This assured her of awards and acclaim from the liberal press, self-styled intellectuals, academia, a multitude of her ilk.

Jeremiah Flanigan

Long Beach