
Background Poise
THERE’S A PHOTOGRAPH of the writer Sigrid Nunez as a young woman, sometime in her mid-twenties. It is 1977 and she has graduated with an MFA from Barnard, having studied under Elizabeth Hardwick. In the picture, Nunez is quite literally radiant—her gleaming teal top echoes the light bouncing off her high cheekbones.
On her left sits Susan Sontag, who is in her mid-forties. Wearing a black vest over a white dress shirt, Sontag leans slightly backward, her right hand grasping her left shoulder. Nunez tilts forward, long black hair framing her open, beaming face. Both women are smiling—their