The Myth of the Disease

In the 19th century, artists were thought to be particularly vulnerable to tuberculosis. Sontag says there's no reason we had to view tuberculosis as this mystical intervention from the outside that's unnaturally consuming the body of these frail and delicate artistic types. There's no reason you have to be thinking of disease like it's this autonomous thing that's eating people. You can describe disease as a natural reaction in response to certain environmental factors or to describe it purely in terms of its symptoms.