Zadie Smith and the gradual progression of alienation, neoliberalism and nationalism in Britain

Abstract

This dissertation invites a view of the gradual progression of the themes of Nationalism, Neoliberalism and Alienation in Zadie Smith’s works, with reference to her debut novel White Teeth (2000), her fourth novel NW (2012) and her most recent work Grand Union (2019). In the introduction, the profoundly diverse landscape of London and Brent, together with the insular mentality of Britain, are established in order to frame the main objective of the dissertation. This is followed by a general outline of thesis as a whole. The first chapter explores the gradual depiction of the alienation of racial diversity in Brent, with this theme becoming increasingly apparent as her more recent works are discussed. The way in which this alienation is further perpetrated by the growing ideology of Neoliberalism in Britain is discussed in the second chapter, with a particular focus on the character Natalie in NW. Neoliberalism and its inevitability is further investigated in ‘The Lazy River’, a short story in Grand Union. In the story, a metaphor which draws a connection between social media and the way it upholds this ideology is used throughout, and is referred to in the dissertation in order to portray the inevitable force of this ideology as a globalised issue. The final chapter considers the presence of both Paul Gilroy’s and Kristian Shaw’s idea of cosmopolitan empathy in NW, with extended reference to the Grand Union short story ‘Kelso Deconstructed’. The conclusion brings the dissertation to a close by looking at the implications of Smith’s works with regards to the Brexit vote. Namely, how her depiction of socio-economic inequalities, racial discrimination and loss of community in London may expose the nationalist undertones behind the Brexit vote.