On Pretension by Zadie Smith
Today BoingBoing has a quote from a Zadie Smith interview. I have to re-quote it here, just to give the full impact:
But the problem with readers, the idea we’re given of reading is that the model of a reader is the person watching a film, or watching television. So the greatest principle is, “I should sit here and I should be entertained.” And the more classical model, which has been completely taken away, is the idea of a reader as an amateur musician. An amateur musician who sits at the piano, has a piece of music, which is the work, made by somebody they don’t know, who they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely, and they have to use their skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift that you give the artist and that the artist gives you. That’s the incredibly unfashionable idea of reading. And yet when you practice reading, and you work at a text, it can only give you what you put into it. It’s an old moral, but it’s completely true.
Is there anything more offensive than an artist talking about the attitude their audience should bring to their work? Especially if that artist casts their audience in the role of “students” playing music by someone they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely!?! Note the ultra pretentious unsplit infinitive.
It’s doubly offensive, given that artist is the ultimate example of what’s wrong with publishing these days. There’s a reason Zadie Smith’s name is always as big as the title on her books. She’s the marketable product: a writer that looks good in book supplements. Otherwise, her amateurish work would never see print.
I managed to make it through the intellectually toothless White Teeth, but I really wish I had those few hours back.
To quote Marshall McLuhan:
Anyone who claims to know the difference between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either
