He called himself a wartime president, but “war transforms its participants,” she writes, quoting Clement Attlee’s post-war call to put the nation before private interests. Next is The American Exception, where Smith challenges Trump’s child-like play for nostalgia. It’s a chewy few pages, where Nabokov, Kierkegaard and theories of female biology and zoology all come along for the ride. Just before lockdown, Smith’s carefully plotted day is disrupted by the appearance of flowers growing in a New York public garden, an unexpected humbling by nature which foreshadows a much bigger one. But across just 82 pages, her range is broad, with discussions of Donald Trump, Dominic Cummings’ Barnard Castle trip and the death of George Floyd, sitting alongside thoughts on banana bread and internet memes. This is not any of those,” she writes in the foreword. “There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytical, political as well as comprehensive accounts. Her six essays begin with an acknowledgement of the book’s smallness. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.

Zadie might be the first deliver (in book form), and it’s both timely and timeless. Many people have wondered, such as on social media, what literature inspired by 2020 will look like, what art will come of these times. This essay collection is a masterpiece and should be required reading. It’s a reminder that “difficult times” were never just relegated to days past– we’re all living it and always have and Zadie brilliantly examines what this all means, where we can go from here, if anywhere. That’s why reading Zadie Smith’s Intimations was extra surreal - it’s real-time commentary on not just a global pandemic, but on a nation and world suffering from multiple viruses, may of which aren’t new, but rather highlighted by current events. Growing up, as students, we read ‘classic’ literature - novels, short stories, essays - and try to look at them through the lens of that time period. Here’s the review, in full, embedded from GoodReads. I MADE this time because I immediately had to tell people to read this timely, brilliant collection.

I found some time today to share my thoughts on the new essay collection by Zadie Smith, Intimations. I got away from writing reviews on GoodReads, or elsewhere, after I finished a book.

Intimations zadie smith review