Alexander McCall Smith on cynicism
In an article for The Independent, Alexander McCall Smith discusses the characters of his bestselling series, the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The author revisits his life in Botswana to relate how the characters came to be — some imagined, others based on pushy friends who demanded to be written in. He then moves to a larger discussion of literary optimism. Oft accused of ignoring the difficult social issues of his setting or being overly optimistic in his characterizations, Smith responds to this critique with one of his own: “The problem is that we have become so cynical that we cannot believe that the world is peopled, in part at least, by those who are sincere, well-meaning, and well-disposed to others.” The article coincides with the launch of a new BBC show that follows a real-life version of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
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