Friday, September 09, 2005

Stupid is as stupid does

Zadie Smith's novel, On Beauty, is on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. I haven't read her work and I'm not sure I ever will, now that I've learned it's, well . . . stupid. At least the author appears to think so, and who am I to say she's wrong?

See if you can read this BBC article without allowing your jaw to hit the floor. Looks like it's anyone's guess whether this young woman is demonstrating false modesty or true stupidity:

Born in London and educated at Cambridge, Smith, 29, released her acclaimed debut novel White Teeth in 2000.

In New York magazine she described writing novels as "quite stupid work".

"In a novel you're never wrong," she said. "Novelists aren't intellectuals, they're just intuitive, if they're lucky."


My houseguests aren't here yet, so I guess I'll sign off now and get back to my stupid work. Maybe I'll have time to polish another scene before my doorbell rings.

Don't know if I'll be blogging tomorrow, so I'll go ahead and wish everyone a safe and fun weekend. Don't do anything stupid, okay?

3 comments:

J. Mark Bertrand said...

Ah ha! I wondered what it was that kept me from cranking out the bestsellers, and now I discover that I'm just not stupid enough. Nature sure likes to play her tricks. Thanks for sharing this encouragement, Brenda. I'm going to go watch some Reality TV now, so that I can approach my writing in the proper spirit. :)

Robin Bayne said...

Same here-- too smart for novel writing. hee hee hee

Brenda Coulter said...

Watching reality TV is probably a good move. Or you could just keep reading my blog . . . .