Zadie Smith: Speaking in Tongues

If you want, you can see Zadie Smith and hear her read from her latest novel "NW"

1. Find at least one good quote in the essay and explain why you find it important.

2. Discuss how Zadie Smith has experienced her development of “voice”.

3. Look at the passage about Eliza (p. 135). Characterize her change of voice (note that you have an excerpt of Pygmalion in the compendium)

4. Put the text into a Danish perspective - could the text have been written by a Dane? If so, under which conditions? If not, why not?

5. Explain how Zadie Smith sees the liminal/middling space of having multiple “voices” as strength. Provide textual examples (you may use the passage on Obama on p. 136ff as a reference point)