Photo Credit: Roderick Field
The Evolution of Ideas in Fiction
Zadie Smith, known for intertwining significant ideas with vivid characters, opens up about the shift in her writing style: "A novel shouldn’t be an essay. ... I’m much harder on Victoria in On Beauty... because I was writing from my teenage brain, back when girls like Victoria made me feel terrible."
Character Empathy vs. Author Bias
Smith discusses the difficulty in unprejudiced characterization, revealing her struggle with adolescent influence: "I don’t think I am especially good at rendering young people ... I think all writers have these – what shall we call them – ‘blind spots’?"
Homage or Goodbye: The Influence of 'Howards End'
Reflecting on the clear references to E.M. Forster's Howards End in On Beauty, Smith explains, "I’d never do it again... but it was an act of laying to rest the influences that dominated me as a child."
Writing Styles: Traditional Plotting vs. Experimental Fiction
The conversation turns to Smith’s admiration for more experimental writers like David Foster Wallace and her potential aspirations: "I hope to get more honest ... which means abandoning certain conventions and expressing experience the way I actually experience it."
The Global Stage of American Writers
Addressing the notion of American fiction's alleged insularity, Smith champions the variety and quality of literature: "My question is: can this person write? All three men you mention write wonderfully."
Bridging Across the Atlantic: Audience Reception and Professional Practicality
Exploring American and British readers’ reception of her work, Smith comments, "But in my twenties, forcing your average literary reader to read about kids like Levi or Zora or Alex-Li – that’s what I wanted to do."
On Abandonment and Posthumous Publishing
Discussing unfinished literary works, Smith expresses a strong opinion against posthumously publishing incomplete pieces: "I just don’t understand what his estate were thinking..." indicating a personal aversion to this practice.
The Challenge of Short Stories and Future Aspirations
While Smith admits to not being a natural short story writer, she expresses a desire to improve her approach: "I can’t write like Perec! You can’t just 'decide' to write like the people you admire."
Digitization of Literature: A Modern Deliberation
Zadie voices concerns about digitization and public consumption on the internet: "You spend days on these sentences – months, in the end – and then you realize that most of the people who will read them will read them at internet speed – and skip paragraphs, and miss nuances, or whole arguments."
Preserving Public Services: A Plea for Libraries
The author stands firm in her support for libraries facing the threat of closure: "The availability of services that were free at the point of access... That is what made my life possible – the availability of a whole avenue of escape."
The Role of the Writer in Self-Critique
In the light of her essay 'How To Fail Better', Smith reflects on the importance of confronting personal writing flaws: "But for me to understand my failures is to improve, a little."
Travel and Creative Influence
The conversation concludes with Smith's time spent in Rome and how it might not lead to a traditional expatriate narrative: "The piazzas and the romance. That's not Italy – that's an Englishman's vision of Italy. I sort of see it more as a speculative fiction place... Italy is a vision of what's coming."