French Literature Reviews - 2026
Zadie Smith, Feel Free: Essays at Liberty
Other Literary Studies
Translated from English by Laetitia Devaux
“You don't fight fire with air. But you cannot fight for a freedom you can no longer identify. To a readership forever eager for freedom, I offer these texts to be used, altered, dismantled, destroyed, or ignored, as the case may be!”
For the great writer Zadie Smith, no subject is unworthy of attention, and it is particularly in the periodical press that she allows this open-mindedness and insatiable curiosity to shine.
From the art of dance to social media, from Justin Bieber to Italian gardens, Feel Free, which brings together texts published over the past fifteen years, reads like a free and infinite spectrum of reflections as rich as they are captivating.
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An article on this work can be read on en-attendant-nadeau.fr:
"In the Facebook Era", by Steven Sampson (online January 9, 2024).
Is there a better subject for an essayist than the society of the spectacle and the advance of capitalism through commodities, viewed through the lens of the media? Versatile and wide-ranging, novelist Zadie Smith does not limit her interests, which possess a striking heterogeneity. Her second collection of “free-ranging” essays takes the media expressions of contemporary society as the starting point for an in-depth analysis of our era.
The essay as a literary form has long served as a flexible space for authors to bridge the gap between personal observation and broader cultural critique. By engaging with subjects as varied as digital technology, popular music, and landscape design, authors often treat the periodical press as a laboratory for examining the nuances of modern life. This collection brings together texts published by Zadie Smith over the past fifteen years, covering topics ranging from the art of dance and social media to Justin Bieber and Italian gardens.
The texts gathered here examine the intersection of personal identity and the influence of the media in contemporary society. By focusing on the society of the spectacle and the advance of capitalism, the work addresses the tension between the desire for individual liberty and the constraints of modern environments. Readers interested in the evolution of the essay form and the critical interrogation of current social trends may find these reflections relevant to their own understanding of the ways in which media and commodities influence daily perceptions.