It’s probably best that these texts were paired here. I found the initial work, Illness, lacking in style and often repetitive. Context does not lend the tedium of reading it any meaning. (Although of course knowing Sontag was diagnosed with cancer does lend the work weight and credibility, I am here passively arguing that this did not absolve her work of lack.) AIDS, however, is a text that continues to shine in its tenacity and flow, as Sontag seems to acknowledge her mental state when writing Illness informs the way she approaches or contextualizes Illness within AIDS. Sontag is more willing to explore the metaphors, it seems, than simply denounce them or argue against them. It helped me appreciate Illness, while remaining a separate and powerful work that remains significant and, in this “post-“COVID world, poignant.