What Makes a Good Writer? (originally written by Zadie Smith)

Illustration by Garrincha

We refuse to be each other

A great novel is the intimation of a metaphysical event you can never know, no matter how long you live, no matter how many people you love: the experience of the world through a consciousness other than your own. And I don’t care if that consciousness chooses to spend its time in drawing rooms or in internet networks, I don’t care…