Zadie Smith Reading and Topics for Discussion

Last night I attended a reading by Zadie Smith at Bryn Mawr College. Ms. Smith is a wonderful reader. She adds accents to her characters’ dialogue, which enriched the time spent.

What I was most impressed with was the question and answer session. When asked her opinion of the spread of multiculturalism and where it’s going, she retorted (and I’m paraphrasing) that multiculturalism isn’t something that can be boxed or policied or compartmentalized. It is a natural progression of a global society. The moment humans were able to cross an ocean and climb into a plane the blending of cultures and ethnicities was destined. In other words, it just happens.

I also thought it was interesting when another audience member said that she thought Ms. Smith’s characters were vivid and truly represented entire groups. Ms. Smith’s retort (again paraphrasing) was that characters shouldn’t represent an entire group but stand on their own as representing the individual character and nothing more. If one character seemed to represent an entire ethnic or religious group then those are the sections of text in which the writer has failed.

What are your opinions regarding these topics? I’ll save mine until I receive some responses to this post.