The Vision of Novelist Zadie Smith (‘The Fraud’)

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2024

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last fall, Zadie Smith published her prescient historical novel The Fraud. We return to our conversation with the beloved author this week, on the heels of our latest sit-down with writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

At the top, Smith details her most recent book (7:48), her instinctive writing process (13:37), and the role of projection in her work (20:08). Then, Zadie reflects on her upbringing in North West London (23:48), the art that influenced her growing up (26:42), and the media circus that followed the publication of her debut novel, White Teeth (31:28).

On the back-half, we discuss her desire to frequently reinvent herself as an artist as a writer (41:53), why she prioritized pleasure after her book On Beauty (45:24), her evolving relationship to humanism (48:06), the nuanced politics of her work (54:13), a striking passage from Intimations (1:01:56), and what she sees in this next generation of novelists (1:04:55).

This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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1:24.0	Welcome to the This is Talk Easy. I'm San Frigoso.
1:34.0	Welcome to the show. Today we return to our conversation with author Zady Smith. She's the author of great books like White Teeth, On Beauty, and Grand Union.
1:58.0	She's also a regular contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books,
2:02.0	where her review of TAR directed by Todd
2:04.9	Field was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2024.
	...

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