![]() ![]() “The striving of matter can always be impeded only, never fulfilled or satisfied,” Smith quotes Schopenhauer as saying. What is the cause of the suffering of the main character, Michael? Unquenchable desire. ![]() There is “no perfectibility in human affairs,” because in this world there is “only incremental progress.” “I believe in human limitation,” a lesson learned from “recent and distant history.” One of the longest essays in the collection, “Windows on the Will: Anomalisa,” on Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s 2015 puppet film, presents a surprisingly flattering picture of arch-pessimist Arthur Schopenhauer. She resolves to become “less naïve,” and her recent essays and novels are evidence of that evolving political consciousness.Īt first glance, the newfound political wisdom looks pretty old. Despite “frequent pretensions to deep sociopolitical insight,” she worries that she is in fact politically unsophisticated. “I RECOGNIZE MYSELF to be an intensely naïve person,” Zadie Smith tells readers in the opening essay of her 2018 collection, Feel Free. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |