By the second chapter, I caught myself luxuriating in a sense of richness and naturalism that is maybe not in fashion today, thinking this is like a 19th century novel. Off by eleven years! On Beauty (2005) is a reworking of Forster’s 1910 Howards End
I really should read On Beauty. I love Howards End! Forster is so good at like...just good solid *novel* novels. Not some mad genius whose reach exceeds his grasp, not some titanic act of will or attempt to encompass all of society, not a Melville or a Tolstoy or whatever, but very well told, bittersweet, likable stories. It's like when you see a really solid 90s oscar bait middlebrow drama and are struck by the craft and the care put into it in a way you really don't see anymore, ya know?
Thanks for writing this---it inspired me to read Howard's End and then On Beauty back to back, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both (especially the parallelisms).
You nailed Smith's approach here--there's a really fascinating interview with her from when the book was published where she speaks to wanting to write an "English novel" as a sort of training ground, and to the importance of "scaffolding": https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/zadie-smith-on-beauty
have you watched the howards end miniseries with hayley atwell and matthew macfadyen? I think it's a great adaptation, faithful enough to the original to not feel sacrilegious, yet everyone characterized just differently enough to keep it interesting. Margaret came across as more mature and strong-willed to me than in the movie/book iirc, and it was very firmly her story. also eg the blocking in henry's proposal in the movie was gorgeous, margaret fluid and dynamic, henry mostly unmoving and unyielding, always above her on the stairs, her moving up to meet him and kiss him. compared to the miniseries, the proposal is very much a conversation between equals literally on equal footing. love both adaptations in the end tbh. your post is inspiring me to read on beauty and also reread and rewatch all versions of howards end:)
This is the only Zadie Smith I've read but it's wonderful! Of course I loved the "Howards End" connections (I'd read that one the prior month), but it was also so amazing to read a novel that uses that "old-fashioned richness and naturalism" to depict the present-day world. There were certain details that were so telling about what it felt like to be at an East Coast college in the mid-2000s.
I really should read On Beauty. I love Howards End! Forster is so good at like...just good solid *novel* novels. Not some mad genius whose reach exceeds his grasp, not some titanic act of will or attempt to encompass all of society, not a Melville or a Tolstoy or whatever, but very well told, bittersweet, likable stories. It's like when you see a really solid 90s oscar bait middlebrow drama and are struck by the craft and the care put into it in a way you really don't see anymore, ya know?
omg exactly
Thanks for writing this---it inspired me to read Howard's End and then On Beauty back to back, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both (especially the parallelisms).
On my nightstand. Right below “Tender is the Night”. Be reading it soon.
You nailed Smith's approach here--there's a really fascinating interview with her from when the book was published where she speaks to wanting to write an "English novel" as a sort of training ground, and to the importance of "scaffolding": https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/zadie-smith-on-beauty
have you watched the howards end miniseries with hayley atwell and matthew macfadyen? I think it's a great adaptation, faithful enough to the original to not feel sacrilegious, yet everyone characterized just differently enough to keep it interesting. Margaret came across as more mature and strong-willed to me than in the movie/book iirc, and it was very firmly her story. also eg the blocking in henry's proposal in the movie was gorgeous, margaret fluid and dynamic, henry mostly unmoving and unyielding, always above her on the stairs, her moving up to meet him and kiss him. compared to the miniseries, the proposal is very much a conversation between equals literally on equal footing. love both adaptations in the end tbh. your post is inspiring me to read on beauty and also reread and rewatch all versions of howards end:)
This is the only Zadie Smith I've read but it's wonderful! Of course I loved the "Howards End" connections (I'd read that one the prior month), but it was also so amazing to read a novel that uses that "old-fashioned richness and naturalism" to depict the present-day world. There were certain details that were so telling about what it felt like to be at an East Coast college in the mid-2000s.
yes!! you rarely see it. realistically that richness was probably rare in the 19th c too