I accidentally picked up this book at the library (mainly because I've read two essays by Sontag, and loved them ; and it was for 4dt).

I had no idea what 'Camp' is, and I was delighted when reading these 'jottings' as the author put it. I love diving into new entities, especially that lately I've been reading a lot about aesthetics and artifice.

However, I was disappointed with a chunk of the essay, when Sontag clearly took a general and stereotypical approach towards jews and homosexuals.
For instance, she writes that "Camp taste is homosexual taste", and that "homosexuals have pinned their integration into society on promoting the aesthetic sense". I find it demeaning to reduce a group of people to the cheesiest stereotype there is.

That was the first essay: Notes on 'Camp'. The second one: One Culture and the New Sensibility, was a less enjoyable read, although as interesting as the other. It mainly focuses on 'literary-artistic culture', as opposed to 'scientific culture' ; 'high' and 'low' / 'mass' or 'popular' culture. The author offers quite an interesting take on the matter.

"Camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. It is one way of seeing the world as an aesthetic phenomenon. That way, the way of Camp, is not in terms of beauty, but in terms of the degree of artifice, of stylization."

"It goes without saying that the Camp sensibility is disengaged, depoliticized - or at least apolitical."

"It (Camp) is the love of the exaggerated, the 'off', of things-being-what-they-are-not. The best example is in Art Nouveau, the most typical and fully developed Camp style."

"Camp is the consistently aesthetic experience of the world. It incarnates a victory of 'style' over 'content', 'aesthetics' over 'morality', of 'irony' over 'tragedy'."

PS: It was brought to my attention that Camp was the theme of the 2019's annual Met Gala. If you google the event, you'll be amazed by what you'll find.