This cast of mind doesn’t mean that Smith avoids moral stances. “Intimations,” her slender new collection (less than 100 pages) of ultra-timely essays (several written in the past few momentous months), showcases her trademark levelheadedness. In the very brief foreword to her first book of essays, “Changing My Mind,” she wrote: “Ideological inconsistency is, for me, practically an article of faith.” That faith doesn’t seem to have wavered in the 10 years since that book was published. But “polemic” is too generous a word for the dominant cultural tone.Īll of which makes Smith feel especially out of time. And maybe that’s fine maybe some times are just for fighting ideological fire with ideological fire. We’re in the Age of Certainty, at least in the bellowing of its various constituents.

It’s never a boom time for wisdom - almost by definition if it were more common, it wouldn’t be valued so highly - but this is an especially arid era for it.

But, being subject to the space-time continuum, Smith is in her mid-40s now, and has the temperament and perspective of someone who could be (a compliment, in this case) 105. Zadie Smith’s presence will always carry a significant memory of the 24-year-old who published “White Teeth” to international acclaim. Wunderkinds, even those who deservedly stick around a long time, don’t seem to age normally.

Zadie smith intimations summary