Browsing the archives for the Zadie Smith category

Zadie Smith, Facebook, and the Game Layer

11 Nov, 2010 in Facebook, Jaron Lanier, New York Review of Books, Seth Priebatsch, Zadie Smith by

(Crossposted at Arcade.) In the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith has written an interesting review of Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network that doubles as a critique of Facebook.  Smith rhetorically positions herself as a sort of luddite or dinosaur, a defender of what she calls "Person 1.0" against the debasements wrought upon — […]

Zadie Smith on Joseph O’Neill

16 Nov, 2008 in Joseph O'Neill, Netherland, Remainder, Tom McCarthy, Zadie Smith by

(Cross-posted at Plasma Pool.) After reading Joseph O’Neill’s novel Netherland, I took a look at Zadie Smith’s fascinating take-down — “Two Paths for the Novel” in the NYRB — of O’Neill as a representative of what she calls “lyrical Realism,” a review which might be characterized as an indirect attack on the brand of Realism […]

On Zadie Smith’s "On Beauty"

23 Feb, 2007 in On Beauty, postirony, Zadie Smith by

I finished reading Zadie Smith’s On Beauty this morning for a reading group that I’m helping to run. I have a sort of mixed reaction to the book. On the one hand, it’s perfect for the argument that I am making in the introduction to my dissertation, which begins with a careful reading of a […]