Nov 17
a gold star for Zadie Smith!
Beyond the fact that I loved White Teeth, The Autograph Man and On Beauty, I now have even more respect for this writer for what she’s said about reading. I got this info from BoingBoing. They, too, receive a gold star.
From an interview with novelist Zadie Smith on KCRW’s Bookworm program:
But the problem with readers, the idea we’re given of reading is that the model of a reader is the person watching a film, or watching television. So the greatest principle is, “I should sit here and I should be entertained.” And the more classical model, which has been completely taken away, is the idea of a reader as an amateur musician. An amateur musician who sits at the piano, has a piece of music, which is the work, made by somebody they don’t know, who they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely, and they have to use their skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift that you give the artist and that the artist gives you. That’s the incredibly unfashionable idea of reading. And yet when you practice reading, and you work at a text, it can only give you what you put into it. It’s an old moral, but it’s completely true.
P.S. Had a really great night of hibachi and sake (I had one glass and decided to quit while I was ahead) and toasts and laughter and hot chocolate with my friends. We’re hoping to make this an every other month event since it’s so incredibly enjoyable. And whene’er I have my own place again, there will be a dinner with this group. Huzzah.
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