Culture | New fiction

Zadie Smith’s new novel revives a 150-year-old court case

What is the populist appeal of elite men who delude the masses?

Portrait of Zadie Smith.
Image: Alex Cameron

Zadie Smith, who has just written a historical novel, never planned to. She saw the genre as “by nature a conservative form”, guided by nostalgia for a time rather unlike the multicultural world of her life and books.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “A novelist’s novelty”

From the September 9th 2023 edition

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