Analyzing and criticizing someone's work is a strangely intimate action. It requires the reader to understand the workings of another person's mind. They must understand how a stranger's mind came to produce the artwork that they did. It's necessary to understand the author's experiences and circumstance. The same words or sentences can have vastly different meanings depending on who wrote them and the context of their life. Understanding Zadie Smith and her experience through life is crucial to being able to understand her work and ideas. With such a unique background, this comes with more difficulty than a more average writer.
Zadie Smith was born in London, but her parents were American and Jamacain. On October 25, 1975, Smith was born to two immigrants as Sadie. Later this was changed to "Zadie" when she was 14. Her parents divorced when she was young and remarried. Her siblings and she grew up surrounded by the arts. Her two brothers became popular rap artists, while she wanted to pursue journalism.
She was given the oppurtunity to study English literature at Cambridge. She was noticed for her short stories published in The Mays Anthology. By twenty-one, Zadie was given a six-figure advance for two books she was writing while continuing her studies in Cambridge. Critics took notice of this prodigy and were met with amazing results. On this advance, she published White Teeth in 2000, winning numerous awards and sold over a million copies. She was an instant success and impressed critics and audiences. At such a young age she was able to get two books published and popularized to become wildly successful.
Smith remains constantly critical of her work. One of the main complaints about her own books is that she does not stray from the ordinary third person, past tense that is so common in writing. Her most recent novel NW uses present tense for a portion of the novel. The end consists of Smith's attempts to manipulate the language. She modifies the font for different media and changes the placement of words to represents the objects she is writing about. The chapters are shortened to only a few words in places. She tries to break from the traditional style of writing which came with a list of rules that were considered unbreakable. Her books become visual pieces of art as well as the literary masterpiece she has produced.
Zadie Smith has lived a less than average lifestyle. Being the child of divorced immigrants puts the world in a unique perspective. Her early success and the amount of it creates a divide between her and her peers. Her background is not relatable, but gives her reader's insight into who she is and how she views the world around her. Her stories gain perspective and insight. She has built an amazing life with the talents and experiences she was given. The details of her path to success are almost more important than her present situation. These things bring light to her ideas and give even more meaning to her work.
In order to really understand a piece of work, it is incredibly important to understand the author and the best way to do that is by knowing about their past. Most authors' works are largely influenced by their past and Zadie has a past fit for an artist of her stature. It is very interesting she was so young and so accomplished. I'm sure her pieces are heart wrenching, considering her background, and especially as being a woman of color. This biography makes excited to see what she comes up with!
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