Biography
Childhood:
Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth, grew up in Willesden Green, England. She was born into a mixed race family; her mother is from Jamaica, and her father is English. She has two brothers, both younger than she, and two older half-siblings. Smith remains close with her family, and describes it as very different from the families she portrays in White Teeth. In one interview she commented, "My family is a much happier, calmer unit" (Random House).
Smith began writing poems and short stories when she was six. Smith's hobbies as a child however, did not limit themselves to writing; she tap-danced for ten years. One of her favorite pastimes as a kid was watching musical movies. Her aspirations to become the next Ginger Rogers were set aside by her growing interest in writing. When asked about her dream to become a tap-dancer, Smith commented, "Slowly but surely the pen became mightier than the double pick-up timestep with shuffle" (Random House).
High School and College:
Zadie Smith is known for her somewhat unorthodox personality. Perhaps it was her desire to resist conformity that prompted Smith, at 14, to change her name from Sadie to Zadie.
In high school, Smith was not an exceptionally ambitious student. She spent the majority of her free time reading and hanging out with friends. She smoked marijuana and characterizes herself at that time as being "a bit of a stoner" (Lyall). In fact, when Smith told one of her high school teachers that she was going to apply to Cambridge, her teacher dismissed the idea as ridiculous (Lyall). But Smith did make it to Cambridge, to the surprise of her colleagues, and found her nitche amongst the academics. In college, Smith spent the majority of her time reading up on the techniques and aesthetics of her favorite writers. Her curiosity proved useful as she researched historical accounts in order to write White Teeth. In one interview, Smith was asked how she so effectively captured the perspective of a Jehovah's Witness, or the thoughts of a middle-aged man. Smith responded, "Books, books, books. As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of World War II or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue" (Random House).
Although Smith knew she wanted to pursue writing as a career after college, she never took a creative writing class. Her major, English Literature, provided all the inspiration and learning she felt she needed to pursue her goals as a journalist. In fact, when Smith was preparing to graduate from Cambridge, she sought numerous jobs in the field of journalism. Astonishingly, she was not offered a single interview (Lyall). Nonetheless, Smith was able to succeed as a writer, publishing White Teeth, her first and only novel as of November 2001, immediately after graduation.
White Teeth and Success
After the publication of White Teeth, Zadie Smith was awarded the Whitbread and Guardian prizes for a first novel. She also attracted the attention of Salman Rushdie (Satanic Verses, The Moor's Last Sigh) who lauded Smith's work as "an astonishingly assured debut" (White Teeth). Smith has been compared with Rushdie, but she finds this comparison flawed (Hattenstone). Rushdie and Smith both address issues of race, history, and gender, but Smith's writing style is clearly different from that of Rushdie's.
In the media frenzy that followed White Teeth, Smith struggled with her newfound fame. Because of the social and political import of her novel, Smith was encouraged to become a spokeswoman for socio-political issues by the media and literary critics. Smith laments, "I was expected to be some expert on multicultural affairs, as if multiculturalism is a genre of fiction or something, whereas it's just a fact of life - like there are people of different races on the planet" (Hattenstone). The media's reaction to White Teeth was almost overwhelming for Smith. Although she enjoys the attention, Smith feels that to a certain degree, her reputation of being a great new novelist is unearned. Smith is her own harshest critic. White Teeth, despite its critical acclaim, has left Smith wondering what all the fuss is about. She states, "I have great ambitions of writing a very great book, I just don't think this is it" (Lyall).
Reviews of White Teeth:
Although Smith is critical of her first novel, the reviews of White Teeth have been overwhelmingly positive. While some critics note Smith's wit and sarcasm, others are more impressed with her ability to present heavy ideas with grace and agility.
from Amazon.com
"Epic in scale and intimate in approach, White Teeth is a formidably ambitious debut. First novelist Zadie Smith takes on race, sex, class, history, and the minefield of gender politics, and such is her wit and inventiveness that these weighty subjects seem effortlessly light."
from The Observer
"There is nothing farcical about the pain of wanting to belong. In this respect, White Teeth is full of false smiles and contrived faces, masks that are repeatedly donned in order to better hide the pain. The 'mongrel' nation that is Britain is still struggling to find a way to stare into the mirror and accept the ebb and flow of history that has produced this fortuitously diverse condition and its concomitant pain...Zadie Smith's first novel is an audaciously assured contribution to this process of staring into the mirror...The plot is rich, at times dizzyingly so, but White Teeth squares up to the two questions which gnaw at the very roots of our modern condition: Who are we? Why are we here?"
from The Guardian
"A debut with the zest and ambition of White Teeth is customarily hailed as the arrival of a new "voice" in fiction. Yet the ear is as gratifying as the voice in this poised and relentlessly funny first novel...Scathingly irreverent without being flippant, engaged yet amused, its buoyant optimism perhaps reflects the fact that its author was born only in the late 1970's, a child of a more relaxed racial climate than that of her literary forbearers."
from the insert in White Teeth
"An astonishingly assured debut, funny and serious, and the voice has real writerly idiosyncrasy. I was delighted by White Teeth and often impressed. It has...bite."
-Salman Rushdie
Major Themes:
Smith in Her Own Words:
Zadie Smith is a media favorite not only because of her writing, but also because of her style and charisma. The compilation of quotes below illuminates Smith's effervescent nature.
"I express myself with my friends and my family...Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression? Go and ring a bell in the yard if you want to express yourself" (Hattenstone).
"I was 21 when I wrote White Teeth, what difference does it make what I think?" (Hattenstone).
"I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame" (Hattenstone).
Works Cited
Boldtype Online. "A conversation with Zadie Smith." 3 pages. Online.
Internet.
http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype. November 9, 2001.
Random House Online. "Zadie Smith" 1 page. Online. Internet. http://www.randomhouse.com/atrandom/firstfiction/zsmith.html. November 9, 2001.
Lyall, Sarah. "A Good Start". April 30, 2000. 3 pages. Online. Internet. New York Times on the Web. November 9, 2001.
Amazon.com "White Teeth". 5 pages. Online. Internet. October 7, 2001.
Hattenstone, Simon. "White Knuckle Ride." 5 pages. Online. Internet. Guardian Unlimited Books. November 9, 2001.
Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.
Related Links
Author: Holly Isbister, Fall 2001
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