Zadie Smith on the Novel

Zadie Smith has authored a truly wonderful essay on writing novels in the Guardian. She asks what makes a good writer and responds to T.S. Eliot's famous essay, "Tradition and the Individual Talent."
My favorite part of the essay is where she talks about the role of the reader:

A novel is a two-way street, in which the labour required on either side is, in the end, equal. Reading, done properly, is every bit as tough as writing - I really believe that. As for those people who align reading with the essentially passive experience of watching television, they only wish to debase reading and readers. The more accurate analogy is that of the amateur musician placing her sheet music on the stand and preparing to play. She must use her own, hard-won, skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift she gives the composer and the composer gives her.

This is a conception of "reading" we rarely hear now. And yet, when you practise reading, when you spend time with a book, the old moral of effort and reward is undeniable. Reading is a skill and an art and readers should take pride in their abilities and have no shame in cultivating them if for no other reason than the fact that writers need you.

Read the whole essay here.
(Thanks to Gangrey for the link.)