The eight short stories in I, etcetera … reflect a vital and restless imagination cooking away in several directions….

The typical Sontag character is intelligent, self-analytical, and suffering from a non-specific form of anxiety or discontent. He may be obsessed by thoughts of freedom, while continually fettering himself at every turn. He may long for change and space, but he's unwilling to give up the brittle shell he is accustomed to inhabiting…. Generally, he feels burdened by a body of fashionable knowledge that fails to solve any of his real problems….

The drawback to stories written in an unself-aware state is … that at times they may turn too far inward, making no effort in the direction of the reader. Assuming that most writers are saying, "I have something of myself that I want to express," we can't help feeling that on occasion Susan Sontag is adding, "And don't you...