In Intimations: Six Essays, Smith’s verbal brilliance and self-deprecating wit can seem like obstacles in her search for moral honesty. Given that Smith tends to be elliptical about her own interiority, it’s a rare moment of unvarnished disclosure, one that recalls an introductory epigram to the book, a quotation from Grace Paley: “My vocabulary is adequate for writing notes and keeping journals but absolutely useless for an active moral life.”
At the very end of this slender, digestible collection of personal essays, Zadie Smith admits: “My physical and moral cowardice have never really been tested, until now.” It’s a sentiment that encapsulates the zeitgeist of 2020.
0 kommentar(er)
