Comments on: zadie smith on the novel

By: Hiedi Kubiszewski

Hiedi Kubiszewski — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:38:22 +0000

fantastic site,I loved this publish.

By: Book mulchings 2010 – Culture Mulcher

Book mulchings 2010 – Culture Mulcher — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:26:49 +0000

[...] crossed with fictionalised narratives. It’s excited the natives from San Francisco to London. Zadie Smith stages a defense against ‘novel-nausea’ (bits here and here, the original has [...]

By: shake

shake — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:04:29 +0000

i checked in a bookshop yesterday – the ‘fail better’ essay is definitely not in there. Not surprising – since it was utter bollocks – but she was clearly very happy with it at the time, and so, mystifyingly, were the guardian…

By: Ads

Ads — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Gabe,

I’ve actually just started reading (and loving, actually) Toussaint’s Television because of her mention of it in the piece. I’ve owned the book for a long time, but she pushed me over the edge. So, yes, I agree.

I think her Alan Bennett-ness, her knowledge of that, is what drives her to write these things. And that is all to the good as well.

shake,

I’ll have to check if that’s in there – don’t have the book at hand at the moment. I’ll get to find out for myself, probably / maybe next year. It’s always fun to see how these sorts mix with the academics so eager to meet them. Often the dynamic is bound up with side-taking in re students vs. teachers… But that too can go wrong in interesting ways.

Owen,

Ah really? I wish I could make the paper, or the conference in general. But due to recent hustling, I’ve been away from home too much and it’s the winter festival at Hyde Park with the kids for me tomorrow. Would you send me the paper if it’s in a state of sendability? But I am very sad to miss it…

And yes, the ads without products megameta post is still in development. IT’s strong suggestion that I watch Century of the Self before proceeding further is in part holding things up, but I’m sure for my own benefit… As the post is in part about Bernays.

By: Owen

Owen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:27:05 +0000

I look forward to the long-promised gloss on the blog title! You may or may not be pleased to know my paper at HM on Saturday will feature within it the phrase ‘ads without products’…

By: shake

shake — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:11:16 +0000

I might write more here later, but just to say – wait til you come to her essay ‘fail better’ (if she hasn’t stripped it from the new book). a worse collection of half-arsed undergrad doodles you’ll never see, at any university. and it ran for two consecutive weeks in tehgraun review.

also – i don’t think she does have all that much time for us academics. Not, at least, if the set of tedious stereotypes in the seriously lightweight On Beauty is anything to go by.

but maybe more later…

By: Gabe

Gabe — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:25:59 +0000

Zadie Smith as a writer has far more in common with someone like Alan Bennett than any of the writers she mentions in that piece I think, but what’s great about her is she consistently uses her high profile in the mainstream to publicise other writers.