British novelist Zadie Smith yesterday evening spoke to members of the Tufts community about her newest novel and her writing process at an event co?sponsored by the Toupin?Bolwell Fund and the Diversity Fund.
The event was part of the Distinguished Writer Series celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Center for Humanities at Tufts (CHAT).
Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger?Sweeney and CHAT Director Jonathan Wilson both briefly introduced Smith, the second of four guests in the Distinguished Writer Series, to a packed Coolidge Room. Smith has authored three novels: "White Teeth" (2000), "The Autograph Man" (2002) and "On Beauty" (2005). "White Teeth" was awarded the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction.
Smith began the lecture by reading an excerpt from her new novel "NW," which will be published by Penguin Book Group in September. The novel will be her first since "On Beauty" (2005), which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
"It's pretty much done now," she said. "It was about seven years of figuring out what I was doing and then about four months of becoming a novel properly. It was a very long process."
Smith has also published "Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays" (2009), an anthology of her own works that have appeared in publications such as "The New York Review of Books," "The New Yorker," "The New York Times," "The Guardian" and "The Believer."
After the excerpt, Smith, who is currently a tenured professor of fiction at New York University, fielded questions from the audience about her writing and emphasized the significance of realism in fiction.
"I like a certain amount of randomness," she said. "The truth, in my opinion, is unavoidably strange."
She also spoke at length about the process of plot development in her novels and essays.
"I still have a deep belief in the emotional weight of plot," she explained. "All I can do is follow where my curiosity takes me."
Smith credited her parents with instilling the confidence that drove her to success as an author, noting that her two brothers - one a rapper and the other a comedian - have benefited from the same support.
"I think that that openness and certainly my mother's belief that her children could do anything has helped," Smith said.
When asked whether she felt irritated by the characterization of her work as purely comedic fare, Smith remarked that the generalization did not bother her, although she thinks it is more worthwhile to individually assess an authors works rather than assessing them on aggregate.
Her writing method is uncomplicated; she begins her novels by writing a sentence or two, usually aiming for a particular tone.
"It's all very kind of last minute," she said,
Smith added that she does not have a specific way of deciding what titles to give her works.
"There's actually no method," she said. "With titles, I never think twice."
Smith also acknowledged the difficulties of writing and spoke candidly about how she was able to produce critically lauded literary works early in her life.
"Everyone else was getting drunk and I was in my room writing," she said.
Smith added that her favorite aspect of the creative process is the sense of fulfillment she feels upon completion of a work.
"It is for the satisfaction at the end," she said. "To have written is a lovely feeling. At the end you really are just writing a book to please yourself."
Smith added, however, that she dislikes doing research.
She told the audience that she is enjoying living in New York City because of the variety, movement, awareness andthe opportunity to interact with a larger non?white community. She added that the social issues that exist in New York do not burden her personally, unlike those she encountered in London.
Wilson concluded the event by expressing gratitude to CHAT and the Diversity Fund.
"We're lucky to get the novel so early," he said.
