Against the List, for Love of Art

Why I've long refused to make best-of lists

Susan Sontag with her son David Rieff

When The New York Times released its list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, incensed friends texted. “Can you believe they left off X or Y?”

I could. The list was a provocation, and it worked. A bid for engagement from an institution with dwindling clout in the cultural conversation.

But I saw the Times …