9781594206252

1594206252

A collection of both previously unpublished works and classic essays includes discussions of recent cultural and political events, social networking, libraries, and the failure to address global warming.

"Since she burst spectacularly into view with her debut novel, White Teeth, almost two decades ago, Zadie Smith has established herself not just as one of the world's preeminent fiction writers, but also as a brilliant and singular essayist. She contributes regularly to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books on a range of subjects, and each piece of hers is a literary event in its own right. Arranged into five sections--In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free--this new collection poses questions we immediately recognize. What is The Social Network--and Facebook itself--really about? 'It's a cruel portrait of us: 500 million sentient people entrapped in the recent careless thoughts of a Harvard sophomore.' Why do we love libraries? 'Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay.' What will we tell our granddaughters about our collective failure to address global warming? 'So I might say to her, look: the thing you have to appreciate is that we'd just been through a century of relativism and deconstruction, in which we were informed that most of our fondest-held principles were either uncertain or simple wishful thinking, and in many areas of our lives we had already been asked to accept that nothing is essential and everything changes--and this had taken the fight out of us somewhat.' Gathering in one place for the first time previously unpublished work, as well as already classic essays, such as, 'Joy,' and, 'Find Your Beach,' Feel Free offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as Smith's own life. Equally at home in the world of good books and bad politics, Brooklyn-born rappers and the work of Swiss novelists, she is by turns wry, heartfelt, indignant, and incisive--and never any less than perfect company. This is literary journalism at its zenith."--Dust jacket.

In the world. Northwest London blues ; Elegy for a country's seasons ; Fences : a Brexit diary ; On optimism and despair

In the audience. Generation why? ; The house that Hova built ; Brother from another mother ; Some notes on attunement ; Window on the will : Anomalisa ; Dance lessons for writers

In the gallery. Killing Orson Welles at midnight ; Flaming June ; "Crazy they call me" : on looking at Jerry Dantzic's photos of Billie Holiday ; Alte Frau by Balthasar Denner ; Mark Bradford's Niagara ; A bird of few words : narrative mysteries in the paintings of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye ; The tattered ruins of the map : on Sarah Sze's Centrifuge ; Getting in and out

On the bookshelf. Crash by J. G. Ballard ; The Buddha of suburbia by Hanif Kureishi ; Notes on NW ; The Harper's columns ; The I who is not me

Feel free. Life-writing ; The bathroom ; Man versus corpse ; Meet Justin Bieber! ; Love in the gardens ; The shadow of ideas ; Find your beach ; Joy.

English literature > History and criticism.