Celebrated author Zadie Smith, now 50, is urging young people to reconsider the ‘vicious discourse’ surrounding age, reminding them that they, too, will inevitably grow old, “in the blink of an eye,” per npr.org.
In a frank interview discussing her new collection of essays, Dead and Alive, the author of the critically acclaimed White Teeth reflected on the generational divides, the passage of time, and the intense pressure felt by today’s youth.
Smith, who published her debut novel at the age of 25, admits to being “obsessed with time.” She draws on her own experience, noting that a key realisation of middle age is the speed at which it arrives.
“If you are young, you are absolutely going to become old,” she said. “It would seem to me not really worth making an absolutely vicious discourse out of something that you are about to enter literally before you know it.”
The novelist, a member of Generation X, suggested the current tension between young and old is understandable given the existential crises facing millennials and younger generations.
“If you are young and feel like you cannot rent an apartment, you cannot make your life, you cannot buy a house… why would you not look above you and say ‘F**- you’? That makes complete sense to me.”
However, she counsels a reciprocal “care” when discussing age, warning that the delusion of permanent youth fades quickly.
Reflecting on her life and work, Smith revealed she lives with melancholy – “a permanent part of my way of being” – but no longer carries the overwhelming fear of death she felt in her 20s.
“Given all my luck and the pleasure of the work that I’ve done, I’m less terrified and I feel like I’ve been given just about as much as I deserve,” she stated.
Now confronting the physical realities of ageing, including macular degeneration which required an eye operation, Smith finds herself in a new phase. She quoted Salman Rushdie, saying, “Our lives teach us who we are.”
Her advice to older generations engaging with younger ones echoes a non-judgemental philosophy: “I just don’t believe in that kind of neoliberal idea of progress builds on progress. I think each group of people has to figure it out themselves and your job, if you’ve already been through it, is to offer support.”
•Featured image: Zadie Smith at the Rome Film Festival in 2021/Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
