Sacred and Secular Masculinities: Hanif Kureishi’s The Black Album (1995) and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2000)

The African proverb that ‘a set of white teeth does not indicate a pure heart’ aptly illustrates the relationship that exists between the Africa and the West. Colonization which is the image of friendship with the White man turns out to be a curse rather than a blessing. The Africans in their brotherhood temperament happily offers a handshake with the White man with the hope fostering a good relationship only to discover that the kind gesture is tampered with bad omen by his guest. The advancement of the White man was a happy thing to the Africans who assumed it to usher in good relationship between the West and the Africans. But it rather turned out to be a curse. Though belaboured in literary criticism, this paper attempts to look at the irony of the handshake as a symbolic image, exposing the White man’s wicked impressions as against the good intentions of the Africans. To do this Oyono’s Houseboy and The Old Man and the Medal are used for this study. The paper examines the degree of acceptance by the Africans and the humane acceptance of the White man and his eventual exploitative attitude toward the same people who happily accepted them. The White man’s use of violence to oppress, subjugate and assault his hosts. The paper explores the ridiculing nature of colonialism and providing the insight to view the psychology of both the White man and his African host. Allusion is also made of other texts that express the same themes.

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La historia espacial en la novela inglesa contemporánea: de pilgrims a nómades

ODISEA Revista de estudios ingleses ◽

10.25115/odisea.v0i8.112 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Socorro Suárez Lafuente

Keyword(s):

English Literature ◽

Time And Space ◽

English Novel ◽

Spatial History ◽

A Site ◽

White Teeth ◽

Intertextual Dialogue

ResumenLa novela inglesa de los últimos años deriva desde la auto/biografía y la metafi cción historiográfi ca hacia teorías de historia espacial, o personajes que responden a las características de pilgrims o nómades. Esta diversifi cación de voces y lugares entra de lleno en los postulados de la intertextualidad y la transnacionalidad cultural, y verifi ca la “disemiNación”. Obras como To the Hermitage o White Teeth establecen los puentes críticos y temáticos que permiten a la literatura inglesa seguir siendo un espacio sincré- tico de fusión y expansión plurinacional: los personajes devienen en un lugar múltiple de infl uencias y vivencias, y se mueven en el espacio y el tiempo para crear la dialogía intertextual que marca la continuidad de la experiencia literaria inglesa.Palabras clave: Metafi cción historiográfi ca, intertextualidad, disemiNación, espacio.AbstractIn the last few years, the English novel moved from auto/biography and historiographic metafi ction towards theories dealing with a spatial history and characters that respond to the defi nition of either pilgrims or nómades. This diversifi cation of voice and place narrates intertextuality and transnational discourses, and validates the possibilities of “dissemiNation”. Novels such as Malcolm Bradbury’s To the Hermitage or Zadie Smith’s White Teeth establish the conditions that make contemporary English Literature a place for synchretic fusion and plurinational expansion: characters become a site for multiple infl uences and experiences, and they move through time and space creating the intertextual dialogue that confers continuity to the literary development in English.Key words: Historiographic metafi ction, intertextuality, dissemiNation, space.

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Exploring Hybridity and Multiculturalism: Intra and Inter Family Relations in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth

ODISEA Revista de estudios ingleses ◽

10.25115/odisea.v0i10.317 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Irene Pérez Fernández

Keyword(s):

Family Life ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Social Space ◽

Family Relations ◽

Multicultural Society ◽

Hybrid Identities ◽

Zadie Smith ◽

City Of London ◽

White Teeth ◽

Intra Family

La primera novela de Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000), ha sido considerada como ejemplo del multiculturalismo y de la pluralidad que caracterizan hoy en día a la ciudad de Londres. Este artículo estudia los modos en los que los personajes de White Teeth negocian un sentido de pertenencia e identidad y establecen y/o transgreden fronteras espaciales dentro de dicha localización. Este trabajo analiza también la identidad híbrida de los personajes y el carácter maleable que tiene tal espacio multicultural a través del análisis de las relaciones inter- e intra-familiares que se representan en la novela.Abstract:Zadie Smith’s fi rst novel White Teeth (2000) has been analysed as an example of the diverse and multicultural society of the present-day city of London. This essay studies the way in which characters in White Teeth negotiate a sense of belonging and identity and how boundaries are established, and/or violated within that location. It also analyses the characters’ hybrid identities and the malleable aspect of that multicultural social space by focusing on the ways Smith depicts spatial confi gurations of inter and intra family life.

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