Walking is what got me through our lockdown in NSW.Peonies: or tulips, or how nature, real and imagined, can heal, connect and soothe our souls. She posits we ponder.īelow is what I pulled out of her essays.ġ. The following six essays went on to explore death, control, denial, resistance, restraint, vulnerability, creativity, destruction, distance and social justice. In her Foreword she embraces the notion that: However, Smith realised that there were two things she could, indeed, do. My vocabulary is adequate for writing notes and keeping journals but absolutely useless for an active moral life. Perhaps with this quote, Smith is saying she is prepared to look at what is happening ‘ in the face…right now‘, but that something more is needed for ‘ an active moral life.’ Perhaps developing an excellent soul requires more rigor and virtue than most of us can summon up right now? The second epigraph was by Grace Paley, who according to wikipedia was ‘ a writers writer‘, fuelled by idealism and activism. No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now. At the time I put it down to a translation and passing of time thing, but perhaps it can be hard to intellectualise and emote at the same time? I found it curious that she choose an epigraph by Marcus Aurelius to lead us in, as I also found Aurelius intelligent and thoughtful, but lacking in warmth, when I read him twenty odd years ago. However, in the middle of a pandemic, I guess I was also looking for more warmth. This was a fine start, showing her obvious intelligence and thoughtfulness. The most I’ve managed so far, though, are a few introductions that she has done in other books or passing references made by other authors who admire her work. I’ve been meaning to read something by Zadie Smith, ever since 2000 and White Teeth, which almost everyone I know has read and loved and says I should read too.

This was the first one, however, that considered our current Covid situation. Lately, I’ve been reading a number of fiction titles about plagues and epidemics (see below). This slim volume of essays grabbed my attention thanks to it’s Covid-related lockdown content.

Zadie smith lockdown essays