Voice in Writing (1)

A quiz question challenge…

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Beatrice: If you can identify the writer, I’ll give you a book voucher.

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Yolanda: How long have I got?

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Beatrice: A minute.

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Yolanda: Can I use my computer?

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Beatrice: Absolutely not. You’ll just Google it.

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Yolanda: OK. So show me the passage.

(reads)

Zadie Smith: Words and Music

An African-American female? Angie Thomas?

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Beatrice: Nope. Zadie Smith.

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Yolanda: You’re kidding me.

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Beatrice: Sure as hell I’m not.

_________

Voice-over

So Zadie Smith is not African-American, but being Jamaican-English is not too far off that. And she can do the voice of a New York African-American to a T. The vocabulary (scatting), the grammar (she was sat), the rhythm (inside out and backward), the context (Vanguard), the feelings (she made us cry), the social differentiations Anglo-Saxon-looking).

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