The Sontag circle closed ranks , with Stephen Koch assuring Sontag that my previous work was “ worthless .” 14 Christopher Hitchens had his fun about the letter from “ Rollyson and Paddock , which turns out not to be a firm of Dickensian solicitors .” With her permission , he was willing to talk about certain matters — like Sarajevo — but , he added , “ I would , naturally , have kept quiet about ‘ The Circle .’” 15 Sontag replied , urging Hitchens to read about us in Janny Scott ’ s New York Times article on unauthorized biographers of living figures : “ Do read to the end . I see a divorce in this couple ' s future . Or am I just being ( as always ) romantic ?” 16 Why Sontag wrongly predicted a divorce is not clear , except that I expressed no concern about anyone writing about my life , and Lisa said she would not like it . 17 Later Christopher Hitchens wrote to test out what he could say in a biographical profile of Sontag , adding , “ As you see , I am not Rollyson nor was meant to be .” 18
A contest seemed to develop over who could write the most reassuring letter , while also vilifying Sontag ' s biographers :
I trust it goes without saying that I would never have anything to do with those pepenadores ( garbage-pickers ) proposing to write a “ biography ” of you . [ Ted Mooney ] 19
I told him [ me ] that I had known you intermittently since we both were teenagers but that I couldn ' t talk with him about this unless I had your 14
January 11 , 1997 , UCLA archive . 15 February 27 , 1997 , UCLA archive . 16 March 3 , 1997 , UCLA archive . 17 Scott . 18 December 16 , 1999 , UCLA archive . 19 March 8 , 1997 , UCLA archive .
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