2007-08 AM Zadie Smith's Multicultural World

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Fridays 12-2pm, in A01 0-004

Winter Term 2007/08

Lecturer: Anna Auguscik

Office Hours: Wed 16-17; A10 1-116

Phone.: 789-2345

E-Mail: anna.auguscik@uni-oldenburg.de

Comment

At the age of 21 and still a college student, Zadie Smith had triggered a lively discussion about the surprising advance she was commissioned for the completion of her at the time unfinished first and a planned second novel. Indeed, White Teeth (2000) proved to be a huge success among critics and readers alike, won her both the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award for Best First Book, was translated into over 20 languages and adapted for a television broadcast in 2002. The second novel, The Autograph Man (2002) was less debated but widely considered to be a much more mature piece of literature, which won her the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction and lead to a nomination as Granta's one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'. Recently, Smith reappeared on the bestseller lists with a novel combining family saga and campus novel: On Beauty (2005) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won both the Orange Prize for Fiction and Somerset Maugham Award in 2006.

Beside her success as a fiction writer, Zadie Smith has contributed as an editor of erotic short stories ("Piece of Flesh", 2001), the author of a book about writing (Fail Better: The Morality of the Novel, 2006), as well as numerous articles and essays (on Eminem, Katharine Hepburn and E.M. Forster, among others).

Topics

Those who are planning to join the seminar may contribute thoughts on what they'd like to do in the following list:

  • The themes of family, friendship, love, beauty.
  • The themes of culture, tradition, religion.
  • London and the new millenium.
  • The function of humour and (postmodern?) irony.
  • Novel writing and the book market: reviews, reader's guides, critical writing, literary awards.
  • Looking for genre: the coinage and function of such terms as "hysterical realism", "historiographic metafiction", "campus novel", "transatlantic comic saga" etc.
  • The influence or intertextual allusions from Salman Rushdie (in White Teeth), Martin Amis (in The Autograph Man), E.M. Forster (in On Beauty).

Texts

  • White Teeth [2000]. London: Penguin Books, 2001.
ISBN 10-014-029778-2 ISBN 13-978-014029778-2
  • The Autograph Man [2002]. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
ISBN 10-014-027634-3 ISBN 13-978-014027634-3
  • On Beauty [2005]. London: Penguin Books, 2006.
ISBN 10-014-102666-9 ISBN 13-978-014102666-4

Registration and Requirements

  • Registration via Stud.IP starts on 23-07-2007 08:00am. Max. 40 students. This Aufbaumodulseminar can be combined with other courses under AM2c, AM3b and AM11.
  • Please, read all three novels before the beginning of the semester and prepare a mininum one-page-long summary for each text including a question or comment respectively.

You will be asked to

  • participate in the seminar discussion,
  • prepare a short presentation and (depending whether you aim at 3 or 6 credit points)
  • write a research paper.

Further Reading

  • Insular Utopias and Religious Neuroses: Hybridity Anxiety in Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Childs, Elaine. Proteus: A Journal of Ideas, 23:1 (2006 Spring), pp. 7-12. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; treatment of hybridity; relationship to religion; difference.]
  • Identifying the Precious in Zadie Smith's On Beauty. Tolan, Fiona. pp. 128-38.. Tew, Philip (ed. and introds.) Mengham, Rod (ed. and introds.).. British Fiction Today.. London, England: Continuum, 2006. xxi, 202 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): On Beauty; novel; treatment of aesthetic values.]
  • "England as a pure, white Palladian mansion set upon a hill above a silver winding river": Fiction's Alternative Histories. Helyer, Ruth. pp. 243-60.. Burden, Robert (ed. and introd.) Kohl, Stephan (ed.).. Landscape and Englishness.. Spatial Practices: An Interdisciplinary Series in Cultural History, Geography, Literature. 1. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 2006. 266 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; treatment of national identity; relationship to abjection; colonialism; the other; compared to Rushdie, Salman (1947- ); The Ground beneath Her Feet (1999).]
  • Zadie Smith [English Novelist, born 1975]. McEwan, Ian. Believer, 3:6 (2005 Aug), pp. 47-64. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ); interview; 2005.]
  • The Jewishness of the Contemporary Gentile Writer: Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man. Furman, Andrew. MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 30:1 (2005 Spring), pp. 3-17. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): The Autograph Man (2002); novel; treatment of Jewish identity; role of ethnic identity; of writer.]
  • Palimpsest and Seduction: The Glass Palace and White Teeth. Glasgow, Melita and Fletcher, Don. Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 27:1 (2005), pp. 75-87. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; postcolonial novel; relationship to palimpsest; compared to Ghosh, Amitav (1956- ); The Glass Palace (2001). Indian literature; English language literature; 1900-1999; Ghosh, Amitav (1956- ); The Glass Palace (2001); novel; postcolonial novel; relationship to palimpsest; compared to Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000).]
  • Erzählstimmen verstehen: Narrative Subjektivität im Spannungsfeld von Trans/Differenz am Beispiel zeitgenössischer britischer Schriftstellerinnen. Walz, Angela. Erlanger Studien zur Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 7. Münster, Germany: LIT, 2005. 237 pp. (Book)
    [Subject Terms: Scottish literature; 1900-1999; Galloway, Janice (1956- ): The Trick Is to Keep Breathing (1989); novel; postcolonial novel; by feminist women novelists; subjective narrative; compared to Winterson, Jeanette (1959- ); Written on the Body (1992); Kay, Jackie (1961- ); Trumpet (1998); Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000); Ali, Monica (1967- ); Brick Lane (2003).]
  • Contemporary Novelists: British Fiction since 1970. Childs, Peter. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 287 pp. (Book)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 1900-1999; novel; 1970-2003.]
  • Postcolonialism and 'The Figure of the Jew': Caryl Phillips and Zadie Smith. Moore-Gilbert, Bart. pp. 106-17.. Acheson, James (ed. and introd.) Ross, Sarah C. E. (ed. and introd.).. The Contemporary British Novel since 1980.. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. iv, 250 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 1900-1999; Phillips, Caryl (1958- ); novel; postcolonial novel; treatment of Jews; compared to Smith, Zadie (1975- ).]
  • 'Happy Multicultural Land'? The Implications of an 'Excess of Belonging' in Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Thompson, Molly. pp. 122-40.. Sesay, Kadija (ed. and introd.) Young, Lola (foreword).. Write Black, Write British: From Post Colonial to Black British Literature.. Hertford, England: Hansib, 2005. 374 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; by black novelists; treatment of belonging; relationship to multiculturalism; uncertainty.]
  • Zadie Smith Talks with Ian McEwan. Smith, Zadie. pp. 207-39.. Vida, Vendela (ed.).. The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers.. San Francisco, CA: Believer, 2005. 454 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 1900-1999; McEwan, Ian (1948- ); interview.]
  • 'We're All English Now Mate Like It or Lump It': The Black/Britishness of Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Walters, Tracey L. pp. 314-22.. Sesay, Kadija (ed. and introd.) Young, Lola (foreword).. Write Black, Write British: From Post Colonial to Black British Literature.. Hertford, England: Hansib, 2005. 374 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; treatment of black experience; in Great Britain; relationship to cultural diversity.]
  • Humouring the Terrorists or the Terrorised? Militant Muslims in Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Hanif Kureishi. Ramsey-Kurz, Helga. pp. 73-86.. Reichl, Susanne (ed. and introd.) Stein, Mark (ed. and introd.).. Cheeky Fictions: Laughter and the Postcolonial.. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft. 91. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 2005. 315 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 1900-1999; Kureishi, Hanif (1954- ): "My Son the Fanatic"; short story; treatment of terrorism; relationship to humor; compared to Rushdie, Salman (1947- ); The Satanic Verses (1988); Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000). Indian literature; English language literature; 1900-1999; Rushdie, Salman (1947- ); The Satanic Verses (1988); novel; treatment of terrorism; relationship to humor; compared to Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000); Kureishi, Hanif (1954- ); "My Son the Fanatic".]
  • Generations of Black Londoners: Echoes of 1950s Caribbean Migrants' Voices in Victor Headley's Yardie and Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Dyer, Rebecca. Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora, 5:2 (2004 Fall-Winter), pp. 81-102. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; by black novelists; treatment of Caribbean immigrants; in London; relationship to generation gap; British colonialism; compared to Headley, Victor (1959- ); Yardie (1992).]
  • Ethnic Cartographies of London in Bernadine Evaristo and Zadie Smith. Cuder-Domínguez, Pilar. European Journal of English Studies, 8:2 (2004 Aug), pp. 173-88. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 1900-1999; Evaristo, Bernardine (1959- ): Lara (1997); The Emperor's Babe (2001); poetry; treatment of English identity; relationship to multiethnic identity; in London; compared to Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000).]
  • School Is Still the Place: Stories of Immigration and Education. Goldblatt, Patricia. MultiCultural Review, 13:1 (2004 Spring), pp. 49-54. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: American literature; 1900-1999; Boyle, T. Coraghessan (1948- ): The Tortilla Curtain (1995); novel; treatment of cultural differences; relationship to education; compared to Lahiri, Jhumpa (1967- ); Interpreter of Maladies (1999); Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000).]
  • Transcending Binary Divisions: Constructing a Postmodern Female Urban Identity in Louise Erdrich's The Antelope Wife and Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Ahokas, Pirjo. pp. 115-29.. Boelhower, William (ed. and introd.) Davis, Rocío G. (ed. and introd.) Birkle, Carmen (ed. and introd.).. Sites of Ethnicity: Europe and the Americas.. American Studies: A Monograph Series. 119. Heidelberg, Germany: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2004. xv, 394 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: American literature; 1900-1999; Erdrich, Louise (1954- ): The Antelope Wife (1998); novel; treatment of female identity; urban identity; ethnic identity; compared to Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000).]
  • Challenging Shakespeare: Strategies of Writing Back in Zadie Smith's White Teeth and Caryl Phillips' The Nature of Blood. Tournay, Petra. pp. 207-29.. Onega, Susana (ed. and introd.) Gutleben, Christian (ed. and introd.).. Refracting the Canon in Contemporary British Literature and Film.. Postmodern Studies. 35. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 2004. 261 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; by black novelists; compared to Phillips, Caryl (1958- ); The Nature of Blood (1997); intertextuality; with Shakespeare, William (1564-1616).]
  • 'Running at a Standstill': The Paradoxes of Time and Trauma in Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Meinig, Sigrun. pp. 241-57.. Glomb, Stefan (ed. and foreword) Horlacher, Stefan (ed. and foreword).. Beyond Extremes: Repräsentation und Reflexion von Modernisierungsprozessen im zeitgenössischen britischen Roman.. Mannheimer Beiträge zur Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft. 61. Tübingen, Germany: Narr, 2004. 398 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; paradox; treatment of time; trauma; relationship to postcolonialism.]
  • Zadie Smith. Gerzina, Gretchen Holbrook. pp. 266-78.. Nasta, Susheila (ed. and introd.).. Writing across Worlds: Contemporary Writers Talk.. London, England: Routledge, 2004. x, 381 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ); interview; 2000.]
  • The Politics of Everyday Hybridity: Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Moss, Laura. Wasafiri: The Transnational Journal of International Writing, 39 (2003 Summer), pp. 11-17. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; relationship to hybridity; postcolonialism.]
  • Language, Code, and Symbol: The Changing Roles of Jamaican Creole in Diaspora Communities. Mair, Christian. Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 28:2 (2003), pp. 231-48. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; treatment of linguistic variation; multiculturalism; in London; compared to Adebayo, Diran (1968- ); Some Kind of Black (1996); relationship to Caribbean diaspora; electronic discussion groups. English language (Modern); Jamaican English Creole language; pragmatics; code switching; in electronic discussion groups; relationship to multiculturalism; in London; in Adebayo, Diran (1968- ); Some Kind of Black (1996); Smith, Zadie (1975- ); White Teeth (2000).]
  • Zadie Smith's White Teeth: Multiculturalism for the Millennium. Head, Dominic. pp. 106-19.. Lane, Richard J. (ed., introd., and glossary) Mengham, Rod (ed. and general introd.) Tew, Philip (ed., introd., and glossary).. Contemporary British Fiction.. Cambridge, England: Polity, 2003. x, 276 pp. (Book article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; treatment of multiculturalism; relationship to British identity; racial consciousness.]
  • White Teeth: A Conversation with Author Zadie Smith. O'Grady, Kathleen. Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal/Revue d'Etudes sur les Femmes, 27:1 (2002 Fall), pp. 105-11. (Journal article)
    [Subject Terms: English literature; 2000-2099; Smith, Zadie (1975- ): White Teeth (2000); novel; interview.]

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