Zadie Smith On The Great Age Debate and Why We Need To Celebrate The Inevitable

Renowned novelist Zadie Smith weighs in on the great age debate and why we need to celebrate the inevitable.

The subject at hand is ‘agelessness’, a concept I think I only half-understand. If it means, “Age is just a number,” or “You’re only as old as you feel,” or “You, too, can look young forever,” then I know I don’t understand it, or, at least, it’s an idea that doesn’t mean much to me.

I believe age—and the awareness of age—is one of the few concrete ways we can measure our progress through this world, and that each stage of life has its season and something to teach us, and that either to look or think oneself 27 forever is to abandon the idea of really living altogether.

But if, by ‘agelessness’, we are referring to those moments of grace when time swings and you escape the actual number on your passport, and find yourself transported backwards, then, yes, I know that feeling intimately, and it is one of the treasures of existence.