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Chris Austin Ebbtide Reporter Every year, Seattle Arts and Lectures, a local literary organization, brings six internationally prominent writers of fiction, poetry and essays to Seattle to feature in its Artist and Lecture Series. All lectures are held at Benaroya Hall. Some are moderated; others primarily feature the author reading from selected works. The season began with Nobel prize-winning Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, and recently continued with British novelist, Zadie Smith. The moderated event began with a discussion about Smith's latest work, and then continued with a question-and-answer period.
Her second novel, The Autograph Man, was published in October 2002. Most media coverage of Smith begins by expressing incredulity that Smith attained major success at such a young age. The lecture moderator/interviewer asked if, at 26, she considers herself to be a "generational writer." She replied that, during the writing of White Teeth, she could not have been more out of touch with her generation. "I was a nerd in college," she admitted. White Teeth is usually described as a work that explores racial and cultural identity. Perhaps because of this, Smith was also questioned about her own identity. But, she defies expectations of age, race and class. The Arts and Lectures program states that hers was not "the usual autobiographical first novel. Rather, Smith displays a talent for inhabiting the skin of characters distinctly unlike herself." "When I wrote White Teeth, I knew what people expected from a girl like me, so I wrote what they didn't expect," she stated. When asked about wanting to defy expectation, she told how she did such a thorough job of writing a book that people never would have expected from a middle-class college student that upon learning this was her background, some people were at first shocked - and then angry. "In England there was an assumption that I must have been poor and miserable as child." The house erupted in laughter when she continued, "There was real outrage at my middle-class background." The moderator noted that there is an assumption that ethnic background equals cultural authority and asked why she wants to escape this conception. Smith referenced an article in the November issue of Harper's: "The Age of White Guilt: And the Disappearance of the Black Individual." There is a conflict common to writers from oppressed groups, the article states, "between a 'deep, intense, private view' on the one hand and the call to be a spokesman for (one's) people on the other." When an author adopts the latter as her identity, she loses her own distinct self-identity. By shunning this role, as with other expectations, she is able to express her own issues and opinions.
Here too it appeared she will not fall prey to losing her sense of self. "Novelists understand that people are unique in themselves," Smith explained. "Celebrities proceed through life without a sense of self, just what is reflected back at them." White Teeth was also described by The New York Times as, among other things, "a tender-hearted satire on religious fictions;" therefore, Smith was asked what about religion attracts her attention. "Novels answer questions of 'What the good is.' Religion and fiction are both narratives through time. This is moral." (E.g., moral questions arise within this context.) Does this mean good must come out at the end? "No, good fiction doesn't have to be dogmatic. Great writing is very ambiguous. There are lots of competing goods." Zadie Smith's White Teeth and Autograph Man are published by Random House. Cost is about $25 through many major retailers. For more information on upcoming events for the Seattle Arts and Lectures series, call (206) 621-2230, or visit secure3.zipcon.net/~lectures/. © 2003 Shoreline Community College™ |
