Zadie Smith captivates the King’s Community with a presentation on consciousness and writing
As Zadie Smith took to the podium for the 11th Alex Fountain Memorial Lecture, the award-winning author brought a powerful, thoughtful presence. A presence which underlined the tone of Smith’s lecture to the King’s community—the responsibilities that authors have (to themselves and their readers) to explore their own consciousness while writing about the world and its challenges.
Smith’s lecture, “Conscience and Consciousness: A Craft Talk for the People and the Person,” explored a writer’s responsibility in using language for the personal versus the political. She asks, how might a writer balance the tensions between individual and group opinions?
Born in London, England, Smith graduated from Cambridge in 1997. She is the author of many acclaimed books, short stories and essays, including White Teeth, On Beauty and her latest novel, The Fraud, and has received many honours, including the St. Louis Literary Award and the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award. Smith is a member of the Royal Society of Literature and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
While addressing a full house of students, faculty, staff and the public, Smith emphasized that language is present in everything and can be used to declare love or fuel hatred. Many problems concerning language arise from the personality of the one using it, she said. Smith described personality as “a painful negotiation” that becomes “painfully clear” when we write.
She admitted it can be difficult to express individuality outside of the comfort of the collective group for fear of hostile retaliation. On this topic, Smith highlighted the works of African-American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, who wrote many controversial texts on race relations and his own sexuality. Smith emphasized the necessity of honesty and intimacy in writing about lived experience to truly connect with the reader, particularly when that experience includes hardships, trauma and prejudice.
Writers must candidly incorporate themselves into their works without fear or shame of reader reception, Smith said. The author’s ability to resonate with the reader depends on that reader’s consciousness, which is out of the writer’s control. “There are as many versions of a novel as there are readers to read it,” she said, looking up at the audience. “What a terrifying thought.”
Smith encouraged writers and future writers in the audience to observe, explore and reflect upon their consciousness. Writing should not be a means to an end for the collective group but an expression of individuality.
“Some books tell you what to think,” said Smith. “Others allow you space to think alongside them.”
Smith’s lecture, densely packed with insights, had many audience members rushing to take notes. But even as she spoke about the intensity of writing and reading (her first love, she says), her quick wit and sense of humour shone through, eliciting roars of laughter with every punch line. When she finished speaking, the hall erupted into applause. The audience questions that followed included queries about Smith’s experience as a writer and requests for advice. Her responses were honest, introspective and practical. She admitted that she needs space from her phone to “protect” and preserve space for thinking. And advised young writers to read—a lot.
I have never had the pleasure of listening to anyone more intellectually captivating than Zadie Smith. She spoke with a clarity and precision that can only be likened to a dart striking the bullseye.
I left Alumni Hall feeling invigorated. The powerful aura that surrounds Zadie Smith had spread. Whispers of future novels began to take form, as overheard in snippets of conversation from attendees as they filed out of the hall. I can confidently say that Zadie Smith left an inspirational impression on the King’s Community and certainly on me. Zadie Smith gave me more than a mere appreciation for her sentences. She made me want to write. And she left me with a deeper desire to find individuality within my writing.
Smith came to the University of King’s College as part of the Alex Fountain Memorial Lecture, established in 2011 by Fred and Elizabeth Fountain and their daughter Katharine, to honour the memory of their son, brother and King’s student, Alex. During the lecture’s opening addresses, Fred Fountain spoke highly of his son, describing him as a “sweetheart” who loved King’s. This is the 11th lecture in the series. Previous speakers have included award-winning authors, philosophers, poets and artists.
