![]() ![]() The book is grounded in inquiry far more often than in certainty, however, and the collection is one that probes, exploring everything from the relationship between privilege and suffering to the nature of isolation and what it means to be confined with the people we love. In six essays that feel as intimate as a long walk with an old friend, Smith takes on some of the most pressing issues of our time, including police brutality and economic injustice. Intimations is the third and slimmest of her essay collections, at 100 pages, but its psychic heft is substantial. Since then her prodigious output has included four additional novels, a novella, and a short story collection. Smith burst onto the literary scene 20 years ago with her stunning debut novel, White Teeth. Drafted soon after "the global humbling began" and completed in the days after George Floyd's murder, the book is "above all personal essays" that capture the author's reflections during a time outside of time. Zadie Smith makes that much clear in the foreword to her newest essay collection, Intimations, noting: "There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytical, political, as well as comprehensive accounts." Intimations isn't one of those books. ![]() ![]() ![]() If narrative and storytelling are among our most essential tools for making meaning of the world - and I believe they are - then periods of upheaval can be especially fertile for writers. ![]()
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