I often worry that my idea of personhood is nostalgic, irrational, inaccurate.
Interpretation
The quote reflects concerns about one's understanding of what it means to be a person, questioning if it is rooted in outdated or flawed ideas.
In this quote, Zadie Smith expresses anxiety about her perception of personhood, suggesting that her concept may be influenced by nostalgia, which can distort reality. This self-reflective statement acknowledges the complexities of identity and the potential for subjective interpretations of what it means to be human, implying that our views might be shaped by personal biases and historical contexts.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of identity and how it evolves over time.
Because immigrants have always been particularly prone to repetition - it's something to do with that experience of moving from West to East or East to West or from island to island. Even when you arrive, you're still going back and forth; your children are going round and round. There's no proper term for it - original sin seems too harsh; maybe original trauma would be better.
You know, you don't expect everyone to be as educated as everyone else or have the same achievements, but you expect at least to be offered at least some of the opportunities, and libraries are the most simple and the most open way to give people access to books.
He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.
We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can.
I think of reading like a balanced diet; if your sentences are too baggy, too baroque, cut back on fatty Foster Wallace, say, and pick up Kafka as roughage.
I never attended a creative writing class in my life. I have a horror of them.
No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ.
Half the people in Hollywood are dying to be discovered and the other half are afraid they will be.
Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone. But grief returns with the revolving year.
The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.
We boast of our freedom, and we have your example for it. We talk the language we have always heard you speak.
The practice of altruism is the authentic way to live as a human being, and it is not just for religious people. As human beings, our purpose is to live meaningful lives, to develop a warm heart. There is meaning in being everyone's friend. The real source of peace amongst our families, friends and neighbours is love and compassion.
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