I read Carver. Julio Cortรกzar. Amis's essays. Baldwin. Lorrie Moore. Capote. Saramago. Larkin. Wodehouse. Anything, anything at all, that doesn't sound like me.
Zadie SmithMy short stories have always pushed twenty pages. That's no length for a short story to be. You either do them short like Carver or you stop trying.
Zadie Smith... don't ever underestimate people, don't ever underestimate the pleasure they receive from viewing pain that is not their own... Pain by itself is just Pain. But Pain + Distance can = entertainment, voyeurism, human interest, cinรฉma vรฉritรฉ, a good belly chuckle, a sympathetic smile, a raised eyebrow, disguised contempt.
Zadie SmithOh, I know that. You know me, baby, I cannot be broken. Takes a giant to snap me in half.
Zadie SmithIt's a funny thing about rap, that when you say 'I' into the microphone, it's like a public confession. It's very strange.
Zadie SmithI tap danced for ten years before I began to understand people don't make musicals anymore. All I wanted to do was be at MGM working for Arthur Freed or Gene Kelly or Vincent Minelli. Historical and geographical constraints made this impossible. Slowly but surely the pen became mightier than the double pick-up time step with shuffle.
Zadie Smith