A Multicultural World in Flux. Geographies of Identity with Zadie Smith

"Zadie Smith depicts in her novels an essentially multicultural and intercultural world in flux, an ever-changing geography of fluctuating, unstable identities. Few things are certain or reliable in this shifting landscape, apart from brief glimpses of genuine human connection, which most of the time materializes not as romantic love, marriage, or parental affection, but as the friendship between two (usually mixed-race) women. Identity is one of the most unstable things in Smith’s narrations, subjected to constant re-evaluation and re-definition. The geography of external spaces and microcosms, the impersonal postmodern metropolis, the internal distortion of characters create a chaotic image of prejudice, misunderstanding, mis-communication and fragmentation. Occasionally they also offer glimpses of, albeit fleeting, harmony and connection."

Alina-Elena Onet