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64 ELLE AUSTRALIA
Words: Laura Collins. Photography: Justin Hollar; Sevak Babakhani (still-life)S
he’s been called –
among other praises- “one of this
generation’s most
vital literary voices”,
and her work is adored,
admired and respected the
world over. In 1997, when Zadie Smith was just 21
years old and still studying for her English literature
degree at Cambridge, her first novel – at the time
unfinished – was subject to a bidding war between
publishers. The author received a six-figure advance
for the book, White Teeth, plus a future second novel - such was the belief in her ability to live up to,
and exceed, the hype.
Now, almost 20 years later,
Smith’s fifth novel Swing Time
makes its long-awaited debut.
Charting the lives of two
childhood best friends who
share a passion for tap-dancing
(and old Fred Astaire films
like 1936’s Swing Time), it takes place in London, New
York and West Africa. Like Smith’s other novels,
the story weaves in and out of time and place
seamlessly – while it alternates between the past
and present with each chapter (literally “swinging
time”), you’re never forced to flick backwards
and reconcile the interchanging plot lines. For the
first time, though, Smith writes in first person – a marked
departure from her regular third-person
narration. In an interview with The Virgin Suicides
author Jeffrey Eugenides for her T: The New York
Times Style Magazine cover story, she explained,
“I was always a bit contemptuous of the first
person... I was stupid about it. I thought it
wouldn’t allow me to write about other
people. But, in fact, it allows you to do it in a really
interesting way because it’s all inflected by the
subjectivity of the character.”
Told through the eyes of an unnamed narrator- which might be confusing were it not for the
way Smith’s words completely absorb you into
that narrator’s world, and head – we trace the
length of a complex relationship with her more
talented friend Tracey, her family life (starring
two comically opposite parents) and her journey
to adulthood, where she eventually becomes
personal assistant to a Madonna-esque Australian
pop star, the mononymous Aimee. Shining
a spotlight on divisions of class, race and wealth
(which, though fictional in this case, are stark in
their real-world truth), it might be Smith’s most
complex and ambitious book to date, though
never without a thread of black comedy woven
throughout. Whether you’re a long-time devotee
or new to the name, there has never been a better
time to thank the literary gods for Zadie Smith. q
Swing Time ($32.99, Hamish Hamilton) is out now
Swing Time, by
acclaimed British author
Zadie Smith, is December’s
Book of the MonthDANCE
REVOLUTION
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