- Who is Zadie Smith, and why should we pay attention to her essay?//
Zadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. She became a tenured professor in the creative writing department at New York University in 2010.
- In what ways does Smith “distinguish between joy and pleasure” and how do these distinctions match up with your own interpretations of the two experiences?//
I think Smith’s clearest differentiation of pleasure and joy comes on page 333. “I “have” pleasure, it is a feeling I want to experience and own. A beach holiday is a pleasure. A new dress is a pleasure. But on that dance floor I was joy, or some small piece of joy, with all these hundreds of people who were also a part of joy.” Here she differentiates joy as a state of being and pleasure being something possessive or to have something. While this is a pretty clear cut way to see it, I think it’s much more blurred than she’s presenting. I think the two could very well go hand in hand, but the idea of being vs possessing is an interesting take that I’m inclined to agree with.
- According to Smith, why is joy difficult to manage, and live with? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? Practice using a complete Quote Sandwich (utilizing a direct quote from the essay) within your response.//
(Top) Smith proposes that joy is difficult to live with because it is so intense that it can consume you as a while. She says, (Middle) “It doesn’t fit with the everyday. The thing no one ever tells you about joy is that it has very little real pleasure in it.” (334-335). (Bottom) Joy just can’t fit cleanly into a monotonous, normal day because of how all encompassing and strong the experience is.
- In a well-developed paragraph, respond to the following question: What’s the value of reading about, thinking about, and discussing joy?//
I think that the value of discussing joy is so important, especially now, with all of the fear and uncertainty of our everyday lives. If we lack joy in our lives, what better way to mimic it than to talk and think about it with others?
- How does Smith’s essay overlap or connect or contradict previous readings from this semester?//
The most prominent thing that connects these readings to me is the way they’re written. They’re so personal and individual and experiential. I think that might be why I have a harder time relating to them… As much as I enjoy this kind of writing, it’s hard to relate to and form and argument around. But that does’t mean it isn’t an interesting perspective to see and hear from.
