Acclaimed writer Zadie Smith delivers lecture on writing for the self instead of writing for the collective

An atmosphere of excitement and anticipation filled Alumni Hall as people streamed in to watch writer Zadie Smith deliver her lecture Conscience and Consciousness: A Craft Talk for the People and the Person. The lecture, which was held on Nov. 6, was the 11th Alex Fountain Memorial Lecture.

There was barely an empty chair in the room, and flashes of the yellow and green cover of Smith’s latest book, The Fraud, could be seen between attendees.

Born in London, U.K., Smith has written six novels, three collections of essays, two children’s books, and a collection of short stories. She has won numerous awards and honours for her writing, including the St. Louis Literary Award and the Bodley Medal.

Her lecture at King’s was about writing for the individual versus writing for the collective. She explained how writers find their voices when they break away from templates made by pre-existing work and over-familiar themes. An over-simplification of the talk’s takeaway would be to avoid clichés and tropes – breaking away from those Jungian archetypes.

In a deeper sense, though, it’s about taking the “raw material” that is language and making something new from it, something that speaks directly to the writer’s deepest feelings and sense of identity; something intimate and personal that the writer is trying to convey to the reader.

“Art is one of the ways we reveal the peculiarities of the consciousness,” Smith said in her lecture. “For me, it’s the only way.”

Talking to a room full of writers and readers, the sentiment hit home. Dalhousie associate professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies, Asha Jeffers, was in the audience for Smith’s lecture.

“When I was an undergrad, I read her first novel, White Teeth, and it literally set the course of my academic career,” she told The Watch after the lecture. “I think that being able to write about that complexity of the human experience that she was talking about, being able to engage in that kind of vulnerability that she was describing, is incredibly powerful.”

King’s student Morgan Brown echoed a similar sentiment: “A lot of ideas that I’ve been thinking about, about what it means to read and to write, have been put into such clear and wonderful language,” they said outside Alumni Hall as attendees left to pick up signed copies of Smith’s work at the King’s Co-op Bookstore.

Smith’s lecture was a thought-provoking analysis of a writer’s mind and work, affirming the struggle they often have with originality in a world where it sometimes feels like everything has already been done. Her lecture raised questions for the audience to reflect on, like how do we overcome the obstacles of different identities and personalities to succeed at what we do? After all, the writer can’t force the reader to see things their way.

As Smith said, “A book can always be closed […] it’s dispiriting to attempt something that will never be perfect.” But breaking away from a template to find self-expression, though no easy task, is what creates writing that people can truly connect with and feel seen by.

Smith said writers must work through personal anxieties, train to break from expectations and educate themselves on what work has been previously done. Smith encouraged the crowd to try to create a boundary between themselves and the collective consciousness that we are all constantly bombarded with from society and the internet.

“Protect your consciousness,” she said. “It is your workshop.”

The Alex Fountain Memorial Lecture was founded in 2011 by Fred and Elizabeth Fountain and their daughter Katharine to honour their son and brother, Alex – a King’s student who died in 2009. The lecture series allows for speakers of various professions to visit the school. The lectures are public, and the lecturer is always chosen by a vote held by King’s students.

Many students attended last year’s lecture when FYP legend Emily Wilson, fresh off the publication of her translation of The Iliad, came to King’s. Other lectures have been given by artists, poets, and authors, such as Kent Monkman and Tanya Tagaq.

King’s Co-op Bookstore, which worked with the Advancement Office at King’s to help facilitate Smith’s visit, saw an influx of visitors after the lecture. Paul MacKay, the manager of the store, estimated that they sold over 2/3 of the signed materials they had prepared earlier in the day with Smith.

“People just flooded down,” he said in a phone interview with The Watch. “Zadie Smith is like an international literature icon.”