As people accuse fiction of presumption, vanity, appropriation, and putting words in peoples’ mouths, one of our most brilliant writers shows us what fiction does best, which is compassionately imagining ourselves as other people, so we can understand who they, and human beings, truly are.
Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction
Zadie Smith | New York Review of Books | October 17, 2019 | 6,137 words