Changing my mind

Zadie Smith

The first essay reviews Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, initially given to a 14-year-old Smith by her mother. Already a typically arrogant adolescent, she resisted the book, averse to writing that was aphoristic, lyrical and laden with ‘folk’ speech. However, the first page was enough to pin her down.

The book plumbs “the ancient build-up of cultural residue”, forcing Smith to address her own “blackness”, and a “marvellous recognition”.