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Zadie Smith page
Zadie
Smith was born on October 27th, 1975 in North London. Some of the inspiration
for her debut novel, White Teeth, came from her upbringing. Her mother is
Jamaican, and her parents met at a party, as Archie and Clara do in the novel.
Zadie was so amazed that her father had ever been to a party, that she had to
create that scene. However, Zadie has also said that while there may be
similarities with her background, the characters of Archie’s family in the
novel are far removed from those of her own.
In her midteens, she changed her name
from Sadie, to Zadie, because she thought that it would make her sound more
exotic, and it certainly shows that she was thinking of words and what they
mean from an early age (Sadie means ‘mercy’ or ‘princess’ – ed.). There aren’t
that many Sadie Smiths out there, if the internet is anything to go by, so she
did not really have to change her name to stand out. On the other hand, if you
type “Zadie” into Google, all the links are related to her, so she is the most
famous Zadie in the world. She felt a bit of a freak at school, as she was
always wearing odd “shoes, one red, one white, a red jumper
and a red and white hat didn't help... Literature was a way of avoiding
unpleasantness at school, particularly being at a big comprehensive”. Zadie
Smith did have some good times at school, but perhaps she was a little
introverted, and spent plenty of time in her room reading, for which consumers
of literature can be thankful. However, she also has musical as well as
literary talents, having previously earned some cash from singing jazz. Zadie
is apparently very good at impersonating other singers, so one could say that
she has only truly found her voice through writing. Tap dancing is also another
one of her talents, and if they started making MGM musicals again tomorrow,
then she would probably be the first in the queue for the chorus line. We’ve
heard that Zadie is writing a musical on the life of Franz Kafka with her
husband, so perhaps we’ll be able to see her in a new light – the limelight of
the stage.
It also helps that she is smart, and
was successful in gaining entry to Kings College, Cambridge, where she read
English literature (which is what she was doing anyway – ed.). Yet, as Zadie
Smith has said, “an English Lit degree trains you to be a
useless member of the modern world”, so you may as well try to earn a living
from what you’ve learnt. Whilst at Cambridge, she had a couple of short stories
published in the May Anthologies (see below). It was also while she was at
Cambridge that she wrote White Teeth, and where she first gained the attention
of publishers, who conducted a bidding war over the book. Zadie also acquired
an agent, the prestigious Wylie Agency. White Teeth was published to high
acclaim in 2000, for which she was awarded the following literary prizes: The Guardian First Book Award,
the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
(for fiction), the Whitbread
First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth
Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book). Zadie’s second novel, The
Autograph Man, was published in 2002, and won the Jewish Quarterly Literary
Prize for Fiction. Granta selected her as one of 20 young best British
novelists in 2003. Her third novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man
Booker Prize. FilmFour have bought the movie rights for On Beauty, and are set
to film the novel on a budget of $20m. Alison Owen and Scott Rudin will produce
the film. Scott Rudin has previously handled successful literary adaptations,
such as Angela’s Ashes, The Hours, and also produced The Wonder Boys. A
non-fiction title, Fail Better, is due for 2006. “On Beauty” was the winner in
the Eurasia region in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, however, Kate
Grenville’s “The Secret River” won the overall title. Zadie Smith is also in
the running for the Decibel Award, which is given to the African, Caribbean, or
Asian writer who has made the greatest contribution to the literary year, and
On Beauty has now won the 2006 Orange Prize, as well as a Somerset Maugham
Award. After receiving the Orange Prize, Zadie Smith said: “I'm delighted that it happened ... I'm
elated, I really am.” On Beauty has also
won the fiction prize in the 2005 Anisfield-Wolf Awards, a prize that was
previously won by one of Zadie Smith’s literary heroines, Zora Neale Hurston.
Zadie Smith was voted the 9th most stylish British woman in an
annual poll conducted by “Harpar’s Bazaar”, and was the only Briton to make
Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people in
2006. Zadie Smith was one of the judges for the Filminute 2006 internet film
festival, along with Bernardo Bertolucci and Isabella Rossellini. Zadie married the poet and novelist Nick
Laird in 2004, who she had met as a student at Cambridge.
White Teeth – review of Zadie Smith's first
novel
“Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private
Tutor” - Zadie Smith's short story from 1997, which
features early versions of White Teeth's characters!
“Picnic, Lightning” - another early story from Zadie Smith,
published in the May Anthologies. Unfortunately, this website is now no longer
online
White
Teeth: A Conversation with Zadie Smith – Kathleen O’Grady, editor of the
May Anthologies who published Zadie Smith’s first short stories, talks to her
about the publication of White Teeth
Martha, Martha –
we review the short story that was published in the issue of Granta that hailed
Zadie Smith as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists under forty
I’m
the Only One – is a short story that Zadie wrote for a collection called
“Speaking with the Angel”. This Barnes & Noble page looks to have an
extract from the story
The
Trials of Finch – is the title of a story that Zadie wrote for The New
Yorker. It is not online, but she talks here to The New Yorker’s Ben Greenman
about the story. In The
Sovereignty of Others: Humanity in Zadie Smith’s “The Trial of Finch”, M S
Smith writes about the short story in further depth
Hanwell
Senior – is another Zadie Smith short story published in The New Yorker,
and a very enjoyable one at that
You are in Paradise
– Zadie writes about a less than exotic visit
to Tonga for The New Yorker
The
Limited Circle is Pure – Zadie Smith writes about Franz Kafka, and given
that she is writing a musical about him, this should be interesting.
Love,
Actually – Zadie writes about EM Forster for The Guardian
On
the Road: American Writers and their Hair – Zadie finds something to amuse
her amongst the ennui of a book tour
We proceed in
Iraq as hypocrites and coward – and the world knows it – Zadie tells it as
it is in this article in The Guardian in 2003
The
Divine Miss H – Zadie writes about Katherine Hepburn, her favourite actress
The A4
Challenge – The Guardian prints a doodle from Zadie about the 2004 Hay
Festival
Shades
of Greene – Zadie’s article on Graham Greene
Letter
from Liberia – a personal account by Zadie Smith
We are
Family – Zadie talks to her brother Ben, who released a rap album in 2005
under the name of Doc Brown. It gives some musical details about their
childhood. Maybe writers soon will be more engaged with SOR?
Fail Better
– an excellent Zadie Smith about how an author’s “self” interferes with the
writing of the perfect novel. Read Better
is Zadie’s continuance of this article
Zadie
didn’t tell the real race story – an article in “The Sunday Times” by
Maurice Chittenden, which voices Ziad Haider Rahman’s view of the novel – the
article says that he was the inspiration for Magid
Enlivened
by exasperation – a “Guardian” report on the proceedings of the Book Club
they ran about On Beauty
Where did it
all go wrong, darling? – Mary Ann Sieghart uses the Belseys’ marital
problems in “On Beauty” to explain why we have fallen out of love with Labour
There
now follows a more in-depth look at White Teeth, and I will do this by
building up a list of links related to topics and themes discussed in the
novel, page by page. The page numbers come from the hardback edition, so
for the benefit of the paperback readers, I will also quote the chapters:
What
is past is prologue - an auspicious quote to start White
Teeth off. This is actually a quote from William Shakespeare's The
Tempest. This website has a picture of the statue inscription that Zadie
Smith is probably referring to. This statue, "The Future", is
the work of Robert I. Aitken. This quote was fully attributed in later editions
of the novel
Cricklewood
Broadway - p. 3 Chapter 1 The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones
- ah, the place to be or not to be - ttwinned with Venice!
Cavalier Musketeer Estate - p.3 Chapter 1 - is
the very exotic name of Archie Jones's car. I couldn't find any reference
to this car on the net, so I think Zadie Smith made the name up.
Ophelia - page 7 Chapter 1 - is the name of
Hamlet's mad, suicidal lover in William Shakespeare's famous play.
Although the Diagilo family has a tendency towards going nuts, it's actually
Archie who's in the course of committing suicide in the book when Zadie
Smith mentions his first wife, Ophelia Diagilo.
monstropolous
- page 10 Chapter 1 - the use of this one wword reveals the depth of Zadie Smith's
reading, for only one writer ever used it before her - Zora Neale Hurston in
"Their Eyes were Watching God".
Waste
and Whiteness: Zora Neale Hurston and the Politics of Eugenics -
provides another quote using the word "monstropolous". Given
that White Teeth also covers eugenics, this essay by Chuck Jackson might be of
some interest to readers of White Teeth
Hoover's
brand name - p. 10 Chapter 1 - the debate goes on and on. The
Hoover building in Perivale is not a million miles away from Willesden, and
it has ironically been internally rebranded as a Tesco supermarket (I can see
the illuminations from my house in Ealing at night – ed.).
Cosimo de' Medici -
p. 11 Chapter 1 - Archie's wife, Ophelia, has delusions of being the maid of
this famous art patron
Herne
Hill Stadium - p.13 Chapter 1 - this where the cycle events were held
for the 1948 Olympics. It’s not going to be used for the 2012 London Olympics
1948
Cycling - these are the top 3's for the cycling events in the 1948
Olympics - doesn't go as far as 13th place!
Thespis -
p. 20 Chapter 1 - introduced "hypocrisy" (more popularly known as
"dialogue") into drama, and he invented tragedy. Eastenders
would never be the same again...
"That Jamaican Cricketer" - p. 21
Chapter 1 - I thought Zadie Smith was referring to Viv Richards here
(Archie purloins a cardboard cut-out of Viv Richards to put in O'Connell's),
but Viv
Richards comes from Antigua and played for the West Indies
Chelsea
Boots - p. 23 Chapter 2 Teething Trouble - all you ever needed to
know about Ryan Topps' footwear
"This
generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" -
p. 28 Chapter 2 - the debate about what Jesus actually meant when he
said this rumbles on
A
time, and times, and half a time? - p. 28 Chapter 2 - could have new
implications for time and a half...
Jehovah's
Witnesses decide the end is Fluid - p. 28 Chapter 2 - explains the
emphasis on the 1914 generation, and why the end of the world just keeps
slipping further away.
"Separating
the Sheep from the Goats" - p. 29 Chapter 2 - Bad news for Goats Shocker
- How Jehovah's Witnesses interpret (and ree-interpret) this phrase
Nearer
My God to Thee - p. 30 Chapter 2 - singalong now!
Saint
Jude - p. 31 Chapter 2 - Hey Jude! Find out more about the saint
- Clara and Ryan go to St. Jude's school
Live fast, die
young - p. 31 Chapter 2 - examines who may have come up with this
phrase originally
The
Lord's Supper and the 144, 000 Anointed Class of Jehovah's Witnesses -
p. 33 Chapter 2 - how many Jehovah's Witnesses are cruelly denied wafer-thin
bread
The
144,000 - so the world will be safe from apocalypse as long as we
all keep on sinning!!!
The
Great Crowd - p. 33 Chapter 2 - what Jehovah's Witnesses mean by this
Where is the
Great Crowd? - my guess is that they're not at Wimbledon FC
Jehovah's
Witnesses: An Overview - explains briefly what will happen to the lost
Murphy's
Law - p. 37 Chapter 2 - where it all started to go wrong
Better
to Marry than to Burn - p. 40 Chapter 3 Two Families - was Paul a
misogynist?
Should
not muzzle the Ox - p. 40 Chapter 3 - why one must never do this, even
if the ox in question is a fat lardy bastard. St. Paul was obviously not
thinking at all of the obvious implications for the Cadburys and Rowntrees
production line
Iphegenia at Aulis by
Euripides - p. 43 Chapter 3 - Clara at the registry office is where
Zadie Smith deigns to tell us what her middle name is. The real
Iphegenia was fooled into going to Aulis by the promise of marrying hunk
Achilles (while Archie's not a youthful hunk, like Achilles, he's a bit gammy
in the leg region), but then she's sacrificed by her father Agamemnon instead,
just so that the boys can go to war. Such is the stuff of which several
great dramas are made. Does not bode well for the Peculiar Second
Marriage of Archie Jones
Jamaican
Patois - p. 65 Chapter 4 Three Coming - mentions Irie
Abraham/Ibrahim -
p. 65 Chapter 4 - one common figure in the traditions of Christianity,
Islam, and Judaism. Sarah must have been one hell of a babe at 90
The Churchill
Tank - p.73 Chapter 5 The Root Canals of Alfred Archibald Jones
and Samad Miah Iqbal - hardly the best tank in the world
how
to cook rabbit - Koos Rozemond, a Dutch lawyer, lays into Zadie
Smith's depiction of the Royal Engineers - but even he goes with the flow in
the end. I've always suspected that Zadie Smith was partially inspired by
The English Patient for this section
Forging
the Iron Curtain in the Balkans - p. 75 Chapter 5 - EAM was the
political wing of ELAS, who were actually fighting EDES - so Zadie Smith is
indeed incorrect on this page, as Rozemond writes (in his broken
English). Captain
Corelli's Mandolin is a recent novel that famously dealt with this
Greek acronym clash. It would appear, that Zadie Smith, like KEVIN, has
an acronym problem
The Gothic Line -
p.77 Chapter 5 - where Samad fought well
The
Tiger Triumphs - more details of Indian fighting divisions in Italy at
this time
The German
surrender documents - p. 80 Chapter 5 - as signed by Colonel-General
Jodl
Dorothy
Lamour - p.83 Chapter 5 - her IMDB entry
Pandy - p. 85
Chapter 5 - also means to strike the hand. Samad, Mangal Pande's great
grandson, was shot through the wrist by accident, ruining his earlier glorious
war career
“Mangal Pande in London” - Amitava Kumar
points out just how unlikely it is that Samad could be Mangal Pande's great
grandson - but like Rozemond, she's willing to forgive Zadie Smith for the odd
mistake or two in an utterly compelling narrative. More to the point,
where have all the good copy editors gone? This article is no longer online
Pesotsky -
p.93 Chapter 5 - Zadie Smith possibly got this name from Chekhov's The Black
Monk
Lydia
the Tattooed Lady - p. 98 Chapter 5 - read the lyrics and singalong!
Facts
about Diabetic Retinopathy - p. 100 Chapter 5 - learn more about this
condition. If Dr. Sick has such bad vision, how is he ever able to shoot
Archie?
when the chips are
down - p.104 Chapter 5 - comes from poker, a game that Samad is very
good at. Nothing to do with fish or depressed potatoes
The
Cricket Test - p. 107 Chapter 5 - Norman Tebbit does his bit to
promote cycling, if nothing else
“If
they pass the ‘cricket test’, how do we stop the suicide bombers?” - Tebbit’s
terminology is still being used by the media today, as this article by Niall
Ferguson in the Telegraph shows
Mrs.
Miniver - p.111 Chapter 6 The Temptation of Samad Iqbal - no doubt
Samad first stumbles over Katie Miniver's name and status because if the famous
book and film - you can learn more about Jan Struther, author of Mrs. Miniver,
and read the whole book here
Am
I a 'Ms' or a Miss - p. 112 Chapter 6 - the debate goes on
How
do we worship - p. 113 Chapter 6 - Samad says that 20 days would
be freed up if all the pagan holidays were removed from the Christian calendar,
but this website says that there are only 8 pagan holidays
OshKosh B'Gosh -
p. 117 Chapter 6 - can be spelt in several ways, although the spelling
Zadie Smith employs is not that popular - Millat really wants to wear this
stuff?
Why is the
sky blue? P. 117 Chapter 6 - Magid is absolutely right
Blue Sky
and Rayleigh Scattering - the science bit
To the Pure, All
Things are Pure - p. 119 Chapter 6 - Samad must have heard Clara say
this phrase, as it comes from St. Paul, upon whose writings she has already
mused. "Can't say fairer than that" sounds more like
Archie. Samad thinks of the sayings of his married friends as
he contemplates infidelity
Things
which make a Fast void - p. 120 Chapter 6 - Zadie Smith has them
listed correctly
Abdullah
Ibn Umar - p. 120 Chapter 6 - more details about him
Freddie Mercury -
p. 135 Chapter 6 - the early life story of the Queen front man
Bharata Natyam -
p. 136 Chapter 6 - more details about the dance that Alsana used to perform
Harlesden
Clock - p. 142 Chapter 7 Molars - in glorious Technicolor
Home
from Home - p. 143 Chapter 7 - the Stonebridge Estate is currently
undergoing something of a regeneration
Speak-and-Spell -
p. 148 Chapter 7 - literacy would never be the same again. Zadie Smith
should be paid for this product placement stuff
The Mandibular Third Molar: A
Method of Predicting its Eruption - p. 150 Chapter 7 - what Dudley
would have done for this... Men inherit wisdom teeth much less regularly
than women
Satyagraha -
p. 154 Chapter 7 - find out more about Satyagraha and Gandhi
The Bukhari Hadiths of
Islam - p. 156 Chapter 7 - an overview
George Stubbs on
the Internet - p. 159 Chapter 8 Mitosis - he's not just on the walls
of O'Connell's
Beastie Boys-inspired fad
boosts VW emblem thefts - p. 166 Chapter 8 - this is what Mickey is
talking about when he refers to "Beetie Boys" - may I apologise on
behalf of my brother for the theft of that VW emblem from a car that was
parked outside our hotel in Sorrento in the late 80's?
Luncheon
Vouchers - p .167 Chapter 8 - despite what Mickey says, the
golden age of Luncheon Vouchers is not over, and it's all thanks to Zadie
Smith!
Queen
Lucksami Tave - p. 167 Chapter 8 - was not so lucky. According
to this webpage, she drowned in the river Chaopraya, not the Nippon-Kai as
Zadie Smith writes
Operation
Blue Star - p. 171 Chapter 8 - and the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi
discussed
mono-browed - p.175 Chapter 8 - means
"to not shave between the eyebrows”
“they are like the English POWs in Dresden who
continued to pour tea and dress for dinner, even as the alarms went off, even
as the city became a towering ball of fire” - p. 182 Chapter 9 Mutiny! - I
could find no reference to this incident on the web, so I presume that Zadie
Smith gleamed these details from reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five,
who is one of Zadie Smith's favourite writers, as listed in this interview
Geographical Facts of
Bangladesh - p. 183 Chapter 9
Bangladesh
Cyclone May 1985 - p. 184 Chapter 9 - more details about this disaster
"Night's
darkness is a bag that bursts with the gold of the dawn" - p. 184
Chapter 9 - comes from Tagore's 'Stray Birds' - read the full text of the poem
here
Rabindranath
Tagore - p. 184 Chapter 9 - a brief bio of the writer who penned both
the national anthems of India and Bangladesh
To put away childish
things - p. 189 Chapter 9 - just how many letters did that St. Paul
blokie write? Zadie Smith's ghost writer invades the text again.
Ryan Topps also calls on this phrase to save him from the embarrassment he
feels at meeting Clara's daughter, Irie - p. 335 Chapter 15
Biddy Mulligan's -
p. 190 Chapter 9 - where Millat gets in a fight, is a real pub in Kilburn, that
used to be frequented by some of the members of the rock band Bush
Tornadoes
- p.190 Chapter 9 - the world's deadliest ttornado swept through Bangladesh in
April 1989
The
Great Storm of October 1987 - p. 191 Chapter 9 – (coincided with my
sister's 18th birthday – ed). Michael Fish has never looked so
pescine. A more disturbing event than even the great Dudley earthquake of
2002
Royston (Iceni) Weather
Station - you'll never leave! Some pictures of roads blocked by
the storm damage
The Great
Storm - also affected Northern France and the Netherlands
Michael Fish - a
caricature
Worsley
Institute of Blu-Tack Art - p.191 Chapter 9 - how long before they
show up in Tate Modern?
Artists in
Residence - Blu-Tack is "so polymorphous and essentially
dichotomous", exactly the same thing that I always say about it. I
think they're taking the piss, but one can never be too sure with artists.
Blu-Tack -
Mrs. McNeill, our school headmistress, was the first to introduce us to this
magical new English sticky stuff. It was my first exposure to product
placement and globalisation, from which I've never truly recovered. It's kind
to speakers too - no band should leave home without one
Viz puts on a show -
p.191 Chapter 9 - it were twenty years ago today when methought that Whizzer
and Chips was the epitomy of comic
excellence, but Viz was a photocopied rag about to hit the big time
"O
Me O My. There's no place like home. There's no place like
home" - pp.191-192 Chapter 9 - is a reference to The Wizard of
Oz. I find it hard to believe that hardboy Millat would do this.
Apparently, a character in The Autograph Man
also mimics Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz. The best critique of
the movie was written by Salman Rushdie,
who was right to question the ambivalent ending. Maybe Zadie Smith will
have a third and final click of the heels in her next novel
You Talkin' to Me? - p.192 Chapter
9 - Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, Millat's iconic hero
Buffalo Soldier -
p. 194 Chapter 9 - the story behind Bob Marley's lyrics
Buffalo
Soldier - the lyrics
"I
do not serve what you worship, nor will you serve what I worship. You
have your own religion, and I have mine" - p. 197 Chapter 9
Mutiny! - quote from the Qur'an
Somokami - p. 199 Chapter 9 - looks like
the crew are impugning the ticket-man's sexuality, and do this even more on p.
200. But more importantly - was there ever a train service between King's
Cross and Milton Keynes? Sometimes I think Zadie Smith is making this
stuff up as she goes along! Not that I'm a trainspotter or anything, I
just live in Milton Keynes
Raggastani
- p. 200 Chapter 9 - although it's debatablle whether Zadie Smith coined this
word, she has certainly popularised it
Fear
of a Black Planet - p. 200 Chapter 9 - the story behind this
famous Public Enemy album
Rushdie
in Hiding after Ayatollah's death threat - p. 202 Chapter 9 - mentions
the burning of The Satanic Verses in Bradford
Book
Burning in Bradford sparks political mayhem - p. 202 Chapter 9 - There
were many people attending the protest who, like Millat, hadn't read the
book. (I remember talking to a woman I worked with at the time who was
violently angry against Rushdie if she had actually read the book - she hadn't
- but then again, neither have I -
ed.). However, events over the last year have made White Teeth even
more resonant as a book of our times
A
Decade on, the Rushdie crisis is over - p. 202 Chapter 9 - Never mind
the man from Porlock, the man from my home town of Slough was far more
malevolent
Divargiit Singh - p.203 Chapter 9 - gets
his only reference on Google due to his mention in White Teeth
The
vast majority of Bangladesh's inhabitants are Bengalis - p. 204 Chapter
9 - seems to be liberally quoted on the web
Indo-Aryan -
p. 204 Chapter 9 - definition
Chuck D takes on the
record industry - p.205 Chapter 9 - Millat has (had) a signed
autograph from this member of Public Enemy - before Alsana burns it. The
Autograph Man, of course, relates the business behind the exchange of such
symbols
Slick
Rick's Hey Young World - p. 205 Chapter 9 - has recently been
re-recorded by Macy Gray
Shaft
in Africa - p. 205 Chapter 9 - a review of this film epic
Berlin and the Cold
War - p. 205 Chapter 9 - a good place to start to find out about the
fall of the Berlin Wall
Fort!
Da! Blues! - p. 211 Chapter 10 The Root Canals of Mangal Pande -
everything you ever needed to know about the game invented by Freud's grandson,
fort-da. Still, if the Football League collapses, we'll all be looking
for a cheaper new sport to entertain us
Dum-Dum
Arsenal - p. 218 Chapter 10 - a variation on "Boring, boring
Arsenal"?
The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 -
pp. 218-219 Chapter 10 - more details
Paper
Cartridges and the Sepoy Rebellion - pp.218-219 Chapter 10 -
includes an extract from Blackwood's Magazine
Mangal
Pande and Bhang - p. 221 Chapter 10 - according to Shuddhabrata
Sengupta, Hindus don't have any qualms about drinking bhang, as long as it is
strong enough
Captain
Hearsay - p.220 Chapter 10 - I could not find any mention of a Captain
Hearsay in relation to Mangal Pande, but a Captain Hearsay did (appropriately
enough) threaten to sue Rudyard Kipling for libel, which led to Kipling
abandoning India. It was more than a hundred years later when a crappy,
manufactured pop band maliciously stole the good captain's name for their own
nefarious ends. According to one webpage, the name and rank of the
officer who demanded Pande's arrest was actually Major-General Hearsey,
although the Wikipedia webpage above refers to ‘General Hearsay’
Trafalgar
Square - Napier and Havelock: Truth behind the Generals' statues -
p.220 Chapter 10 - it's not only Samad who hates this statue of General
Havelock - Ken Livingstone wants to pull it down too
Alas!
Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio - p.221 Chapter 10- is the actual
quote that everyone really knows well
Tatia,
the Sword of Freedom - p. 225 Chapter 10 - another account of Mangal
Pande's mutiny
In the old age black
was not counted fair - p. 231 Chapter 11 - read this critique of
Sonnet 127
My mistress' eyes
are nothing like the sun - p.231 Chapter 11 "The Miseducation of
Irie Jones" - a critique of Sonnet 130
Thy black is fairest
in my judgement's place - p. 233 Chapter 11 - this quote comes from
Sonnet 131
For
since each hand hath put on nature's power - p. 233 Chapter 11 - is
another quote from Sonnet 127
In
nothing art thou black, save in thy deeds - p. 235 Chapter 11 - comes
from Sonnet 131
Then
I swear, beauty herself is black - p. 235 Chapter 11 - in his
brilliant critique of Sonnet 132, Nigel Davies does battle with Mrs Roody's
interpretation of this series of sonnets. Irie's reading - that
Shakespeare is celebrating the beauty of a black mistress - does ring very
true
“Blacks in London: An Interpretation” - p.
235 Chapter 11 - Henry Louis Gates, Jr. says that Elizabeth I "demanded
that all the blacks in England pick up and leave", so Mrs Roody is wrong
in her assumption that there were no Africans in seventeenth century London
Introduction
to Black Studies - p. 235 Chapter 11 - this overview mentions that
"African slaves were brought to England from the 1570s onward. It became fashionable"
Black
Wednesday was White only in Britain - p.240 Chapter 11 - Robert J.
Gordon writes some mumbo-jumbo about why Britain left the ERM
Lessons learned on
'Black Wednesday - p.240 Chapter 11 - the BBC overview of the crisis
It's
time to get your knots fried - p.240 Chapter 11 - Erika Rollins on the
contradictions of the beauty industry
Ethnic
haircare - p. 240 Chapter 11 - from research sponsored by Mintel
KTalk
- p.240 Chapter 11 - where there's demand, there are business opportunities, as
Paul King discovers to his delight in White Teeth, with some of the money even
going to good causes
Gimme a head with hair - p. 240 Chapter 11
- shows how globalization if affecting theee beauty industry, with black-owned
firms being bought out by the major cosmetics companies (referenced webpage is
no longer online – ed.). "And I wish to God I could buy black hair
products from black people for once" says one of the customer's in Roshi's
Haircare, little knowing that this will soon be even more difficult (p.
243 Chapter 11)
Black
Beauty: Millionaire C. J. Walker - p. 240 Chapter 11 - C. J. Walker
was America's first self-made woman millionaire, money she earned from her
creation of beauty products for black women
The HisTory of Michael
Jackson's face - p.243 Chapter 11 - need we say more?
Sense
and Sinsemilla - p. 245 Chapter 11 - sinsemilla is marijuana
"Samad hates Saraswati, you
understand. Calls him colonial-throwback, English licker-of-behinds"
- p. 248 Chapter 11. I am not sure iff Zadie Smith is referring to any
particular writer here. His name suggests V. S. Naipaul, but Naipaul was
born in the Caribbean. Saraswati is
the name of a Hindu goddess
"Where
is his Khamise?" - p. 249 Chapter 11 - Samad is critical Magid's
Western clothing
"What does Islam
mean?" - p. 249 Chapter 11 - find out here
Laborare
est Orare - p.250 Chapter 11 – definition of this Latin phrase
toke - p. 251
Chapter 11 - is a word that has travelled far
The Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious
Islamic Nation (or KEVIN - they have an acronym problem) - p. 255 Chapter 11 -
would appear to be a satire on the Nation of Islam
The person who goes in search of knowledge is
on active service for God until he returns - p. 255 Chapter 11 - this
phrase can be used in the context of converting to Islam
Vermiculous
- p. 264 Chapter 11 - appropriately enough,, means "wormy". A
good word for all you Scrabble freaks out there
The British Empire
Exhibition of 1924 - p. 265 Chapter 11 - Wembley has never been used
just for football
British Empire
Exhibition - p. 265 Chapter 11 - another view
autogamy
- p. 267 Chapter 12 Canines: The Ripping Teeeth - onanists
geitonogamy -
p. 267 Chapter 12 - slightly more exciting than monogamy (for plants)
xenogamy - p. 267
Chapter 12 - nothing to do with Xena, or her gams
The Third Life of Grange
Copeland - p. 268 Chapter 12 - more about Alice Walker's first novel
The
Summer of '76 - p. 268 Chapter 12 - was never as good as the summer of
'77, IMHO
Chimeric Mice - p. 269
Chapter 12 - the clever bastards
Ralph
Brinster - p. 269 Chapter 12 - a brief profile of the Nietzschian
creator of Chimeric Mice, SuperMice, Mighty Mouse, and Danger Mouse
Mice
Embryogenesis and Genetics - p. 269 Chapter 12 - mentions the
Eight-cell stage of development, when we develop gender
DNA
Microinjection - p. 269 Chapter 12 - the things they do to cute mice
Production
of Transgenic Mice - 270 Chapter 12 - don't try this at home
Gordon
and Ruddle - p. 270 Chapter 12 - their roles in DNA microinjection
"Garter Knight Delphiniums" - p. 272
Chapter 12 - no mention of these on the web, so I think Zadie Smith made them
up
Thrips - p.272
Chapter 12 - thripping hell!
Pulchritude -
p. 273 Chapter 12 - all you ever needed to know about this word
What is the Ouroboros? -
p. 277 Chapter 12 - Oscar creates one of these with an elephant
Arawaks - p. 277 Chapter 12 - a brief history
of these people and their swift decline after the arrival of Columbus
The
Question of Genius - p. 279 Chapter 12 - it seems most unlikely that
Oscar could have an IQ of 178 - but then IQs seem to fall into the "damned
lies and statistics" category
Nature V. Nurture -
p. 279 Chapter 12 - "so much of it is Nurture" says Joyce, seemingly
in contradiction to her husband Marcus, who is intent on genetically
programming mice to play all sorts of tricks at the time he has designed them
to do so. Is in Nature or Nurture that Millat later turns himself into a
parody of Mangal Pande?
"Irieathus negressium marcusilia" -
p. 280 Chapter 12 - i.e. Joyce thinks that Irie needs to be nurtured by Marcus
"Millaturea brandolidia joyculatus" -
p. 280 Chapter 12 - i.e. Joyce has been watching 'On
the Waterfront' too much, and thinks that Millat
needs to be nurtured by her
Newsround - p. 280
Chapter 12 - I don't think Newsround was ever on for half an hour each
day. They should bring back John Craven and his sensible jumpers - that
was when Newsround really was on the cutting edge of the news media
Of Mice and Men -
p. 281 Chapter 12 - Ralph Brinster's "Supermice" seems to be the
model for Marcus Chalfen's FutureMouse in White Teeth (although I believe the Press
coined the phrase "Supermice"). This web article by Kathleen
Klein also discusses the inevitable issue of ethics (which also crops up in
White Teeth)
Art
Tatum - p. 281 Chapter 12 - this webpage gives you more idea of what
this great pianist was like
"genotype hidden by phenotype" - p.
282 Chapter 12 - is quoted in Keecia James' review of White Teeth, where
Alsana's fears of "racial dilution" are also discussed (review no
longer online – ed.)
Speak Jamaican.com -
p. 282 Chapter 12 - has more about the Jamaican use of the personal pronoun
Michaelmas
Daisies - p.284 Chapter 12 - are not indigenous to the UK but prosper
well. How our flora and fauna have been changed by immigration and
emigration
"A headshot of Mendel looking pleased with
himself" - p. 290 Chapter 12 - never has one man done so much with
peas. This webpage would appear to contain the picture that Zadie Smith is
referring to. The common myth surrounding
Mendel was that his work on inheritance was forgotten for years, and then
re-discovered. But this webpage suggests that this was not necessarily
so, and that Mendel may have had good reason for looking pleased with
himself. Certainly, the idea of this genius plodding away with his work
in a monastery has always seem idyllic to me
Particle
Delays and Annihilations - p. 290 Chapter 12 - "God does not play
dice with the world", but he's a mean craps player
Does God play dice? -
p. 290 Chapter 12 - this illuminating article was written by none other than
Professor Stephen Hawking, who I once saw in Waitrose in Cambridge.
Although Hawking's typist writes "Prewst" for "Proust", the
rest of the article is very coherently written, and not wholly divorced from
the concerns of White Teeth. And there's a cute cartoon of Einstein
throwing dice
Maurice Wilkins -
p. 290 Chapter 12 - gets to be in a cartoon with Rosalind Franklin, just below
Crick and Watson
Double
Helix discovery by Crick, Watson, and Franklin - p. 290 Chapter 12 -
and Rosalind Franklin makes 4. If only Franklin hadn't obsessed over
every detail, she would have been credited with the discovery of the structure
of DNA. Unfortunately, she died of ovarian cancer in 1958, and the Nobel
Prize is not awarded posthumously. Of course, Marcus doesn't mention
Rosalind, probably because he's an old letch
mouse
with tumour - p. 292 Chapter 12 - look away now if you're squeamish -
these are the kind of pictures that Marcus and Irie are looking at. Note
that the mouse's face is turned away, so that we cannot see it's expression
"activating oncogenes "
- p. 293 Chapter 12 - find out more about tthis
"You eliminate the random, you rule the
world" - p. 294 Chapter 12 - this quote of Marcus is discussed in Richard Seltzer's review of White Teeth. Barbara
J. Gardner uses the quote in the title of her paper on Zadie Smith
Human
Population Growth - p. 294 Chapter 12 - enough to put you off having
children forever
"If you told that potato-head there was no
gravity
on the moon he'd think you were being silly" - pp. 296-297
Chapter 12 - or is there?
The Tricycle Theatre -
p. 297 Chapter 12 - find out more about this hotbed of cultural activity in
Kilburn
A
Bout de Souffle - p. 297 Chapter 12 - Dennis Grunes has a much
more positive view of this film
Jonestown
- p. 297 Chapter 12 - Neena is referring too the mass suicide instigated by Jim
Jones in Jonestown, Guyana. Neena is saying that Chalfenism is hardly a
cult
The
Well of Loneliness - p. 300 Chapter 12 - contains details concerning
the court battle over Radclyffe Hall's novel
Our
Bodies Ourselves - p. 300 Chapter 12 - the story of the book
Oranges
are not the only Fruit - p. 300 Chapter 12 - read Jeanette Winterson's
account of her debut novel. I saw her at Oxford Railway station the other
day. Unlike Terry Waite and Stephen Hawking, she was not in Waitrose in
Cambridge at the same time
Ottaman
Empire: Flags with Zulfikar - p. 303 Chapter 12 - not a pair of
scissors
"How many times... is it necessary to say thank you in a single
transaction?" - p. 303 Chapter 12 - reminds me of the days when I used to
word in a bookshop
"the Responsibility of Intellectuals"
- p. 303 Chapter 12 - read what Noam Chomskky has to say on this issue
"I mean, after a while, you've got to
suspect it's in the genes, haven't you? All these brains. I mean,
nurture just won't explain it. I mean, will it?" - p. 305 Chapter 12
- Joyce seems to contradict what she said oon p. 279, by now stressing the
primacy of Nature and inheritance, despite her urge to nurture
Muscular
Christian - p. 305 Chapter 12 - a definition
Peccavi
- p. 307 Chapter 13 The Root Canals of Horttense Bowden - err... - actually
Charles Napier took Sindh, and sent this 1 word in a telegram back to his
superior, Lord Ellenborough, not vice versa. If only Latin were taught
more widely in schools, then "texting" could have a whole new
dimension! To be fair to Napier, he probably only had a penny on him when
he sent the telegram
maga - p. 307
Chapter 13 - means Ambrosia was thin. "Pickney" refers to child
"a young man called Garvey was staging a
printers' strike for higher wages" - p. 308-309 Chapter 13 - Zadie Smith
is referring to Marcus Garvey.
Unfortunately, the printers' strike that Zadie is referring to happened in
1908-09, which seems to suggest that Ambrosia, impregnated in "May
1906" (p. 307), looks to have had one of the longest pregnancies in
history (although we know that the date of Hortense's birth is already given as
1907).
Charles
Taze Russell - p. 309 Chapter 13 - this webpage gives a supportive
view of Russell, beard n'all
Millennial
Dawn - p. 310 Chapter 13 - this webpage gives some idea of what was in
Millennial Dawn
'Early
will I seek thee' p. 310 Chapter 13 - comes from Psalm 63 and is also
a hymn - seems to predict the imminent death of Sir Edmund Flecker Glenard
Jamaican
Pimento - p. 310 Chapter 13 - is a spice
Memories of the
Kingston Earthquake of 1907 - p. 312 Chapter 13 - there is far more on
the internet about this year's Dudley earthquake than the Kingston earthquake -
"I guess my family's more of an oral tradition" Irie says (page 293
Chapter 12) - it contains the sarcastic contents of the letter that Sir James Swettenham
sent to the Americans. Lord Elgin (of marbles fame, no doubt) told him
off, and Swettenham handed in his resignation. Arthur Farquharson had to
shame Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill into realising the urgency of the
situation by saying that he would go to the Americans for help if Churchill did
not have time to see him. It must have taken a lot for Churchill to ask
the Americans for help a few decades later
I will fetch my knowlege from
afar - p. 313 Chapter 13 - the full text of Chapter 36 of Job
Clarissa - p. 314
Chapter 14 More English than the English - Alistair Cooke provides an admirable
precis of Samuel Richardson's novel
F R Leavis -
p. 314 Chapter 14 - read my thoughts on the original proponent of close reading
"More than kisses, letters mingle
souls" - p. 314 Chapter 14 - read the whole of this John Donne poem, 'To Sir Henry Wotton'
"Delayed Twinning"
- p. 315 Chapter 14 - is a phrase that is ooften used in defence of cloning (and
apparently, we're dummies to be concerned about it). The Ethics of Human Cloning explores
this in more depth - "Consider,
for instance, the fear that a clone would not be an "individual" but
merely a "carbon copy" of someone else -- an automaton of the sort
familiar from science fiction. As many scientists have pointed out, a clone
would not in fact be an identical copy, but more like a delayed identical twin.
And just as identical twins are two separate people -- biologically,
psychologically, morally and legally, though not genetically -- so, too, a
clone would be a separate person from her non-contemporaneous twin. To think
otherwise is to embrace a belief in genetic determinism -- the view that genes
determine everything about us, and that environmental factors or the random
events in human development are insignificant" - so what
Marcus wants to do - "To eliminate the random" (as Magid puts it) -
is to create this very SF model of cloning which everyone fears (albeit to cure
disease and for the "good" of mankind). Now we see where
Joshua's D&D fantasies come from... By putting the emphasis on
genetic determinism, Marcus Chalfen would seem to come close to
wiping out the whole of Nurture... Replicating
specific persons says that even an identical clone would have their
own personality, and Marcus has the example of Magid and Millat to prove
that genetic determinism is not a reality, unless it's an unfortunate
by-product of his own work
Andrusier
- p. 322 Chapter 14 - Alexandra Andrusier iis the name of one of Millat's
girlfriends, Adam Andrusier is also one of the world's leading agents in
selling autographs. Zadie Smith's second novel, The Autograph Man, is
about a bloke who sells autographs. Part of the dedication page in The
Autograph Man reads "And for my friend Adam Andrusier, who knows
funny from funny". Adam Andrusier’s webpage now openly acknowledges
the connection
"illegally imported absinthe" - p.
322 Chapter 14 - You can now buy absinthe in Tescos. "Absinthe makes
the heart grow fonder" may be outlawed as an advertising slogan any day
now
Ambrosia - p. 326 Chapter 14 - Irie's middle
name and the name of Hortense's mother comes from Greek myth - "De stuff
dat make you live for ever" as Hortense says on p. 330 Chapter 15.
Absolutely nothing to do with Cream Rice
napthalene
- p. 328 Chapter 15 Chalfenism versus Bowdeenism - was Darcus sitting in his TV
chair so long that Hortense had to cover him with moth balls?
cerace
- p. 328 Chapter 15 - is a kind of healing tea
You will flee by my
mountain valley - p. 329 Chapter 15 - this quote from Zechariah is
also on this webpage.
And the Lord did confound the
language of all the earth - p. 330 Chapter 15 - should read "the
Lord did there
confound the language of all the earth". Either Hortense is
beginning to forget things, or she's using a different translation of the Bible
Fear
them not therefore - p. 331 Chapter 15 - from Matthew Chapter 10,
verse 26
"Railway sidings named after a careless
child" - p. 331 Chapter 15 - I've no idea what Zadie Smith is
talking about here - is what I wrote yesterday. But then I read another
section of The Autograph Man last night which seems to confirm what I had
already suspected - that Zadie is referring to Marylebone: "I always get
those tube things mixed up - Mary-lee-bone?" Book 2 Chapter 2 'Discovering
the footprints' page 239. Mary-lee-bone sounds like "Mary leaves bone" - you can
imagine a careless kid leaving their bones behind on a daytrip to London.
Marylebone, London, UK tells
how 'Marylebone' is actually a contraction of 'Saint Mary by the Bourne'.
Since the "bone" bit is a contraction of Tyburn,
the image of a poor girl called Mary leaving her bones there isn't all that
ridiculous - since Tyburn was such a macabre place, it's not surprising the
contraction turned the sound of Bourne
to Bone. If
Zadie Smith ever gets bored, she could always set cryptic crosswords
German
pickelhaube - p. 332 Chapter 15 - see what one of these looked like
feed a fever, starve a
col' -p. 332 Chapter 15 – Cecil Adams is no dope
buguyaga -
p. 333 Chapter 15 - meaning "tramp or bum"
tremolando
p. 338 Chapter 15 - a definition
carillon-
p. 339 Chapter 15 - a definition - Zadie Smith seems to be using a few musical
metaphors in this section
The
Revelation of St. John the Divine chapter 3 - p. 340 Chapter 15 –
“As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” is from Verse 19.
The Book of Revelation
from the Holy Christian Bible - p. 340 Chapter 15. Is the Book of Revelation going to
be fulfilled in our time? - give some indication of much of the
content about The Book of Revelation on the web
So
then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out
of my mouth - p. 340 Chapter 15 - seems to be a reference to the
church at Laodicea
"turd
part of the sea" - p. 341 Chapter 15 - is a paraphrase of The
Book of Revelation Chapter 8, verse 8 - not a reference to coastal pollution
Welcome
to the study of Escatology - p. 341 Chapter 15 - even if it's the last
thing you ever do!
Tom
Cringle's Log - p. 343 Chapter 15 - like my Mangal Pande (Father
Prout, aka "Francis Mahoney", "Rev. Francis Sylvester Mahony
(O'Mahony)" - my family does not even have oral history to tell us how our
fecking surname is supposed to be spelt, although I believe we dropped the O' to sound less Irish!!!),
Michael Scott wrote for Blackwood's Magazine. The opening to Tom
Cringle's Log is probably the longest opening sentence to a novel ever - but
good with it
In Sugar Cane Land - p. 343 Chapter 15 -
Eden Phillpotts’ tome, published in 1893, still exists in a few collections
Natives
are not critical of photographic quality - p. 343 Chapter 15 - read
Hesketh Bell's Film Theory - 'the natives are not to see how sexualized white
women really behave!' is how I would paraphrase it - he refers to "our
struggling film industry" (things haven't changed much since 1926).
He suggests making 2 versions of the same film, with colonised people getting
sent the sanitised versions
Report on the Caribs of
Dominica - p. 343 Chapter 15 - Hesketh Bell chimes again
100 Years of the
Carib Territory - p. 343 Chapter 15 - the above letter of Hesketh Bell
is still discussed today
100 Years since
the destruction of St. Pierre - p. 343 Chapter 15 - thanks to Hesketh
Bell and Jean Rhys, we know more about the volcanic destruction of St. Pierre
than the Kingston earthquake
Jamaica - p. 343 Chapter 15 - apparently it was
that lovely man Cromwell who finally settled on "Jamaica"
Helleborus
Corsicus - p. 344 Chapter 15 - beware Greeks bearing flowers
Meat
is Murder - p. 346 Chapter 15 - some of the things that might be in
Joshua's leaflet
"Jew-fro"
- p. 346 Chapter 15 - as worn by Art Garfunnkel. We await the photographed
mullet version
Dadaist - p. 347 Chapter 15 - Sting later
became one of these - "De do do do, De da da da" is all I want to say
to you
anarchist -
p. 347 Chapter 15 - I'm pretty sure that Tony Bear is not one of these
"I'm giving up leather" - p. 347
Chapter 15 - you can actually get vegan Doc Martins now
As
Time goes by - p. 353 Chapter 15 - most famously sung in Casablanca, a
film that Alex-Li Tandem muses over in The
Autograph Man
"Surrey T. Banks " - p. 355 Chapter
16 The Return of Magid Mahfooz Murshed Mubtasim Iqbal - an oblique reference to
Iain M. Banks?
Recombinant
DNA technology - p. 357 Chapter 16 - read a definition
Well
Hello Dolly - p. 358 Chapter 16 - it was an Englishman, Francis
Galton, who first proposed the science of Eugenics. Marcus may shrug
off these fears, but he does not know his mentor's past history
Oncomouse -
p. 359 Chapter 16 - find out more about the mouse from Onco, the model for FutureMouse
Oncomouse
not patentable in Canada - p. 359 Chapter 16 - what about the
oncomoose though? I believe that oncomouse has now been patented in
Canada
The
Laboratory, or the Passion of the Oncomouse - p. 359 Chapter 16 - by Lynn
Randolph - the oncomouse is contrasted with
the death of Christ, the messiah. There are 12 stations of the cross -
the mouse just has one station - her laboratory/bell jar - where her life and
death will be observed. The Canadian
Council of Churches pdf ebook has more theological musings on the
oncomouse. Bryan Crockett also
presents the oncomouse as Christ. Find out more about Donna J. Haraway's ideas in
Modest_Witness @Second_Millennium. FemaleMan_meets_Oncomouse: Feminism
and Technoscience
Nomoskar - p. 361 Chapter 16 - means
"hello" in Bengali. "kamon acho?" - means "how
are you?"
India's partition -
p. 365 Chapter 16 – read also a critical account of Mountbatten's withdrawal from India.
Mountbatten's withdrawal also left open the question of what was going to
happen to Kashmir
Coming
apart at the seams - p. 366 Chapter 16 - what we used to wear in the
old days
Black Label Beer -
p. 367 Chapter 16 - is strong stuff
cleave
- p. 368 Chapter 16 - a real homonym>
Leave no stone unturned -
p. 368 Chapter 16 - never mind Luke and John, how off the wall was Matthew?
St. Jude - p. 369 Chapter 16 - is the
patron saint of impossible or difficult causes. Marcus researches at St.
Jude's College, Clara and Ryan went to St. Jude's school
Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder - p. 370 Chapter 16 - Joyce thinks Millat has
this
East Pakistan and
West Pakistan - p. 371 Chapter 16 - what happened when they split
The Sphinx of Corinth -
p. 375 Chapter 17 Crisis Talks and Eleventh-hour Tactics - looks nothing like
Joyce
Shah
Jahan - p. 377 Chapter 17 - famous for showing off his riches and
building the Taj Mahal
Let the
scholars beware! - p. 381 Chapter 17 - stand and deliver! -
that's what highway robbers say. I'm adamant that Adam Ant did
Rags
to Riches - p. 381 Chapter 17 - this Tony Bennett song featured
in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas
haraam - p. 382 Chapter 17 - means
"forbidden"
Acne - p. 387
Chapter 17 - all you ever needed to know about spots
Kaffir - p. 389 Chapter 17 - means
"Unbeliever"
"Some people march on the parade ground
and fire the first shot" p. 389 Chapter 17 - Samad explicitly links Millat
with Mangal Pande
"it gave up the ghost and dropped back
into the swallowing hole" - p. 391 Chapter 17 - thus does Archie's coin
tossing become a deus ex machina once more
Malocclusion
- p. 393 Chapter 17
The Sajdas of the Qu'ran - p. 393 Chapter
17. Here
is a transalation of the passage Millat is using to guide himself, containing
the full, uninterrupted text
Subhana rabbiyal-ala - p. 393 Chapter 17 –
means “'Glory to my Lord, the Most High”
Definitions of wajib, sunnat, and makruh - pp.
393-394 Chapter 17 - can be found here
Kaba p.
395 Chapter 17 - "Quibla" should be "qibla"
- Zadie Smith spells qibla correctly on p. 393 when she fully quotes "How
do we perform Namaz" - although the spelling of these translateed Arabic
words does vary. Here also is a definition of "fard"
he
who wants to change worships becomes a disbeliever - p. 395 Chapter 17
- again from "How do we perform Namaz&"
"But contrary to Millat's understanding,
this is no movie and there is no fucking end to it, just as there is no fucking
beginning to it" - p.397 Chapter 17 - compare and contrast with The
Autograph Man Chapter 10 page 218 - "Alex tells him the same thing he
told him three hours ago and has tried, in one way or another, to tell him
since their acquaintance began: this is not a film".
The
Qu'ran and the Cosmos - p. 397 Chapter 17 - an interesting view on
this debate
Restriction enzyme -
p. 397 Chapter 17 - find out more about this
Patents
on genetically altered organisms - p. 397 Chapter 17 - humans are
included
Zeno of
Elea - pp. 398-399 Chapter 17 - the world's first proponent of couch
potatoism. Includes the famous paradox of Achilles and the
tortoise. Nothing to do with Xena (or her gams). Josh Peete gives an admirable account of what
Zeno was trying to say
The title of Chapter 18 is "The End of
History versus The Last Man". Francis Fukuyama has written a
book called "The End of History and the Last Man".
Has History restarted since September 11? is
Fukuyama's reaction to recent events. The Last Man is
also the title of a novel by Mary Shelley,
whose more famous novel Frankenstein
also acts as a warning for those who pursue scientific progress without
thinking of the consequences (like Marcus Chalfen). You can read The Last Man here
"Kifr" p. 400 Chapter 18 - another
way of writing "Kaffir"
Ideological
Warfare - p. 400 Chapter 18 - also discusses the Kufr and 'Ideological
Warfare'
Alim - p. 401 Chapter 18 - means "one who
has true knowledge"
tautology - p. 401 Chapter 18 - a
definition. A far more effective speaker on such issues is Hani Shukrallah
"dypsomaniacs" p. 401 Chapter 18 - the commonly
used spelling is dipsomaniac - i.e. Monty Clyde's parents were drunks
The
Imam Muhammad bin Saud University - p. 401 Chapter 18 - their homepage
"the fascicles of Endless Bliss"
- p. 402 Chapter 18
Human, all too human - pp. 401-402 Chapter
18 - is James Wood's interpretation of Zadie Smith's creation of Monty Clyde
Benjamin (aka Brother Ibrahim ad-Din Shukrallah). (This article is no longer
online – ed.)
Latter-Days
Saints - p. 402 Chapter 18 - morons
- sorry, I meant, mormons!
Selly Oak -
p. 402 Chapter 18 - a virtual history of the area
The
worth of Cleanliness and Hygiene in Islam - p. 402 Chapter 18 - may be
similar to the writings of Brother Ibrahim
Garveyism
- p. 403 Chapter 18 - this webpage gives deetails about the later career of
Marcus Garvey. Strangely neglects to mention how Captain Charlie Durham
("Whitey"), could have bent the rules of time to suppress Garvey's
printers strike in 1907 (pp. 308-309 Chapter 13)
Elijah Muhammed -
p. 403 Chapter 18 - a brief bio
"the angel Jabrail"
- p. 405 Chapter 18 - more about his cominggs and goings
Kurta-pyjamas -
p. 406 Chapter 18 - some excellent models of this attire
The
Orientalists, The Bible, and the Qu'ran: A Brief Review of the Bible Borrowing
Theories - p. 407 Chapter 18 - will give you some idea of what Brother
Ibrahim means when referring to 'The Orientalists'
"'Yes, shtoom, yes, I understand,' says
Mo, speaking to Millat, but looking straight ahead as in a spy movie" - p.
407 Chapter 18
"the NGCA, the OHNO" - p. 408 Chapter
18 - the 'National Corn Growers Association'?,
the 'Northern Californian Golf Association'?
FATE picks some strange allies. Either that, or Zadie Smith is making it
all up again!
cosmogony
- p. 409 Chapter 18 - a definition
The
Spotted Dog - p. 410 Chapter 18
- if you're a dipsomaniac, visit the pub. "By 1992 it had
transformed again, this time into the focal point of the huge Australian
immigrant population of Willesden, who, for the last five years, had been
leaving their silky beaches and emerald seas and inexplicably arriving in
NW2" - p. 411 Chapter 18
Homo
Erectus - p. 410 Chapter 18 - see some pics of our predecessors
Guy Debord - p. 410
Chapter 18 - his life and death
Guy Debord and the Situationists -
p. 410 Chapter 18 - more about the ideas of the Situationists and what happened
to them
Willesden
High Road - p. 411 Chapter 18
Willesden Past by
Len Snow - p. 411 Chapter 18 - this legendary tome is mentioned on
this webpage about Gladstone Park, itself featured in White Teeth several times
Iago p. 413
Chapter 18 - find out more about this Shakespearean villain
detumescent - p. 413 Chapter 18 - a less than
arousing definition
"the tribe of Reuben" p. 417 Chapter
18 - Ryan is quoting from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 7, Verse 5
"'Calm yourself, Mrs. B. I am afraid
your granddaughter is too far gone for us. As I expected, since leaving
us, she 'as joined the dark side.'
'Fuck you, Ryan, I'm not Darth
Vader...'" - p. 418 Chapter 18
Chinese Box - p.
419 Chapter 18 - more complex than Rubik's Cube
crusty
- p. 422 Chapter 19 The Final Space – the wwikipedia article refers to music,
but it does give an idea of the environmental nature of crustiness
cained
- p. 427 Chapter 19 - at one point in the nnovel, I believe that Millat and
Magid are compared to Cain and Abel. However, Cain
was the older of the two twins. It's the equivalent of Mangal Pande
drinking bhang
Sura 52 - p. 427
Chapter 19 - an English translation
Salla Allahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam - p. 428
Chapter 19 - means "may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him", referring to Muhammed
English translations of
the Qu'ran - pp. 428-429 Chapter 19 - read about the various attempts
"It is only a dense cloud" - p. 429
Chapter 19 - read more of Rodwell's translation of Sura 52
"And in the night-time also hymn His praise"
- p. 429 Chapter 19 - Pickthall'ss translation
ascetism
- p.429 Chapter 19 - a definition
"Because they look to the future to forget
their past" - p. 431 Chapter 19 - Abdul-Colin's view of the English
philosophy of life also seems to be Alex-Li Tandem's philosophy of life in The
Autograph Man - "Regret everything and always live in the past"
- p. 296 Book 2 Chapter 5 "Taming the Bull"
"The sun rises and sets on it in twelve
hours" - p. 431 Chapter 19 - is Abdul-Colin's view of the British Empire,
adapted from the saying "The Sun never set on the British Empire"
Trafalgar
Square - pp. 430-431 Chapter 19 - Sculpture at Trafalgar Square - Napier
(Peccavi) is also
there, along with Havelock
What
goes around comes around - p. 433 Chapter 19 - the Hindu philosophy of
karma
He that increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow - p. 433 Chapter 19 - Biblical writer makes huge sweeping statement
shocker
There
is no fear in love - p. 434 Chapter 19 - some musings on this passage
from John
He would valiant be,
'gainst all disaster! - p. 434 Chapter 19 - singalong to the hymn,
with words from Bedford lad John Bunyan
New Musical
Express - p. 435 Chapter 19 - the NME - my tabloid of choice
during the early 90's - I can still remember some of the Bez Jokes - oh, for
the days when you could fool a whole nation into believing that Bob Holness
played the sax in Baker Street
"If Star Wars (secretly Ryan's favourite
film. The Good! The Evil! So simple. So true) is truly the sum of all archaic myths and
the purest allegory of life (as Ryan believed it was), then faith,
unadulterated, ignorant faith, is the biggest fuck-off light sabre in the
universe" - p. 435 Chapter 19 - like a lot of things that Ryan believes,
this is a lot of arse. Star Wars is far from simple.
Take the beginning of the best film, The
Empire Strikes Back. Darth Vader infiltrates the rebel base, surrounded
by a load of storm troopers dressed in Ku Klux Klan chic, like a negative image
from D. W. Griffiths' The Birth of a Nation.
What the feck is that all about? Darth Vader's voice was also done by the
famous black America actor, James Earl Jones. Twenty years
later, there were protests when another black American voice was utilised in
The Phantom Menace: Jar Jar Binks (because it was
a stereotypically Southern slave voice). There is the Trade Federation in
The Phantom Menace, talking Japanesa and looking like Japanese Carp.
Natalie Portman is presented as the image of innocence by dressing up as a
Geisha in the same film. Yet today, the only person who complains about
James Earl Jones's voicing the epitomy of evil is Dave Prowse, and he's
laughed off the stage because of his wurzel accent.
When Darth Vader first appears on the
scene in Star Wars, he is Death incarnate surrounded by skeletal storm troopers
in a grotesque dance macabre. He is the Dark Father who
exquisitely castrates his own son in The Empire Strikes Back (the only
film Lucas couldn't spoil by putting cute cuddly creats into the Special
Edition). No one has ever complained about this superb portrayal of black
power, because it was, by its very nature, not stereotypical (especially in
terms of the historical cinematic portrayal of African-Americans). Darth
Vader was Shaft, the epitomy of blaxploitation. Sure, he was one evil
mother (or father rather), but he was supported by rank and file English RADA
Nazis (was the whole stereotypical casting of the English as baddies started
because it was cheaper to film in England in the Seventies? Discuss). No one
complained, most of all, because Darth Vader was cool and powerful. And
unlike Golem, he actively makes a conscious choice to save the day at the end
of Return of the Jedi (although everyone was secretly fecked off when they
saw what Vader really looked like, not just Dave Prowse). Darth Vader
turns out to be just a sham of Black Power - there's a white guy in his suit -
("ignore the man behind the curtain" - Wizard of Oz) - just as so
many black leaders today are still sponsored/hindered by the West.
But there are signs that the Star Wars
saga is getting even more complicated - just watch Attack of the Clowns (the
only film in the Spielberg/Lucas ouevre that explicity goes back to its Cowboys
and Injuns roots). There's that very interesting scene when cavalry
officer/Jedi Anakin mows down the Tuscan Raiders/native Americans in their
teepees in the John Ford Country of Tatooine before turning to the Dark Side as
a by-product of his Kevintheteenagerisation. So now George Lucas seems to
be saying that the evil empire, with its army of clones, is none other than the
good ol' U S of A. Although the film had its laughably crap
moments ("don't lust after me Anakin, even if I am wearing bondage
gear"), it was easily the most subversive of the year. Just look out
for Amidala's bodyguard - y'know - the guy in the eyepatch - he looks almost
exactly like - You know when
you've been Jango'd. On second viewing on DVD, where this digital
film is really at home, it does become obvious, to my shame, that Captain Typho
is played by Jay Laga'aia, not Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett). Still, when
was the last time that two Maori actors were cast in a mainstream Hollywood
blockbuster?
Star Wars? Simple? Pah!
deoxyribonucleic acid - p. 440 Chapter 19
- is good old DNA
gamete -
p. 441 Chapter 19 - a definition
syllogism - p. 441 Chapter 19 - find out more
about Aristotle's mode of arguments
synaesthesia - p. 443 Chapter 19 - a definition
Of Mice and Memory - p. 444 Chapter 20 - is the
title Zadie Smith uses for Chapter 20. In this article from 1988, Joshua
Brown used the same title for his discussion of Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale.
It's a play on words of the title of John Steinbeck's famous novel, Of Mice and Men, itself derived from
Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse"
Exempli gratia - p. 446 Chapter 20 -
"for example"
"Because there aren't any alien objects or
events any more, just as there aren't any sacred ones. It's all so
familiar. It's all on TV" - p. 449 Chapter 20
Anagnorisis - p. 455 Chapter 20 - a definition
Jean-Paul
Sartre - pp. 458-459 Chapter 20 - mentions Sartre in prison in 1941.
"Man makes himself" is a direct quote from Sartre's Existentialism as
a Humanism. This was published in 1946, so how would Dr Sick know about
it in 1945 unless he knew Sartre? This is probably the only reason why Dr
Sick is French - what other nationality would know so much of Sartre's work at
this time?
Oedipus - p.
459 Chapter 20 - more about him. Tiresias
was the fortune teller in the Oedipus myth
"whether there be tongues" - p. 459
Chapter 20 - Clara, Samad, Ryan Topps, and Dr Sick all quote from White
Teeth's ghost writer, St. Paul
"And then I think of the perverse German, Friedrich"
- p. 460 Chapter 20 - would appear to be a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher
adopted by the Nazis
"But surely to tell these tall tales and
others like them would be to spread the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is
always tense and the future, perfect".
Amazon.co.uk interview -
Eithne Farry talks to Zadie.
She’s
young, black, British – and the first publishing sensation of the millennium
– it was this Stephanie Merritt interview for The Guardian that first
introduced me to Zadie Smith. Never did like the title though
The Modern Library
– their interview with Zadie
Zadie Smith: Where
did it all go wrong? – David Steven writing for Bookslut. “Her
shyness gives her a bad reputation, she tells us. In the past, signings have
gone badly wrong, a lack of small talk with bookshop clerks the problem. Her
publisher received complaints: Zadie Smith is rude, disgusting, anti-social.
What did they expect, she asks us, a chat show host? “ Exactly. That’s why many
writers turn to writing in the first place, because they are shy and sometimes
inarticulate. Why should they have to sell themselves? Selling the book is the
job of the publisher’s publicists. Zadie also criticises the decision to
include unpublished writers in Granta’s list of 20 Best Young British novelists
in 2003 – too right too – some publicists can be a bit too zealous for their
big new signings.
White
Knuckle Ride – Simon Hattenstone of the Guardian speaks to Zadie in the
wake of White Teeth’s success. “She picks up a Rizla
paper and rolls a fag, says that most writers are useless speakers, and that's
why they write.”
Taking Fame with a Grain of
Salt – Zadie Smith talks to Inspired Minds, includes the audio files of the
interview. Speaking of White Teeth, she says, “I was 21, and
when you’re 21 you do things badly in general. There probably is too much in it
and I certainly wouldn’t write a book like that again” (I wouldn’t have spent
so much time creating this webpage if I agreed with that – ed.) The webpage
goes on to give more details as to how Zadie Smith got her book deal
The
Ethical Strategies of Novels – Beth Potier from the Harvard Gazette reports
on the work that Zadie did when she was a Radcliffe fellow in 2003
A
Writer’s Truth – Zadie talks to the Boston Phoenix in 2003 about her
interview with Eminem, and why she never wants to do another interview in the
UK, life at Radcliffe, and contractual red tape
Zadie
Smith talks about “On Beauty” – Linda Herrick talks to Zadie Smith
Zadie
Smith still wary of the limelight – Sue Leeman’s interview with Zadie Smith
Q&A: Zadie
Smith – Patrick Knowles talks to Zadie
Smith speaks On Beauty
– some interesting comments about where Zadie Smith’s characters come from in
this article by Jane Campbell
Zadie
Smith, putting herself into her work – an excellent interview by Jennifer
Frey of “The Washington Post”
Teachers
win top awards for writings on diversity – “The Plain Dealer” talks to
Zadie Smith after “On Beauty” has won the fiction prize in the 2005
Anisfield-Wolf Awards
Libraries
threat – features an interview with Zadie, who is passionately campaigning
against library closures in her local authority
Zadie Smith wins Orange Prize
– as reported by Reuters. Zadie Smith
comes from behind to win a book prize at last – is how “The Times” reported
it, although, of course, the Orange Prize is not the first literary award that
Zadie Smith has won, although it is her first major prize. A return to
form for a 21st century celebrity – was how Claire Armistead saw
it for “The Guardian”. Taking
the Orange at Second bite – is a further report from “The Guardian”
Searching
for Zadie Smith – M. S. Smith is inspired to track down signed first
editions after reading Zadie’s novels
Don’t Shoot the Scientist!
– Dimitris Kioussis gives a scientist’s view of
White Teeth
Are you
a Yindie? – Ed Caesar reports that Yindies regard Zadie Smith as being “the
pinnacle of alternative fiction”
On
Booty – a report on a “New Yorker” party attended by Zadie Smith. There’s a suggestion that Zadie and her
husband Nick Laird will soon be moving to Rome for a year
Zadie Smith
to judge 2007 Willesden Herald competition – “The Willesden Herald” is
run by the great Stephen
Moran. Zadie chose “Kid in the
Well” by Willie Davis as this year’s winner
This
term, we will be studying Zadie Smith – how novels become set texts for
exams
Not in our
name: campaign launched against Trident – Zadie Smith took part in this
campaign in February 2007
Head, Dominic. ‘Zadie
Smith's White Teeth: Multiculturalism for the Millennium’. In Richard J.
Lane, ed., Contemporary
British Fiction. Cambridge: Polity, 2003: 106-19. This photocopied
pdf file comes from the webpages of the Texas A&M University
Moss, Laura. ‘The
Politics of Everyday Hybridity: Zadie Smith's White Teeth’. Wasafiri, 39 (Summer 2003):
11-17. Again, this photocopied pdf file comes from the webpages of the Texas
A&M University.
Karin E. Westman (Kansas State
University), "Keeping it Local, Keeping it Real: Global Capitalism,
American Culture, and British Identity in Zadie Smith's White Teeth".
Also "Anatomy of a Dust Jacket: Deracination and English Identity in Zadie
Smith's White Teeth." Under consideration at Cultural Critique.
35 pp. in manuscript. "London Calling: English Identity in the Novels of
Zadie Smith." South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference.
Atlanta, GA. November, 2003. "To Market, to Market: Transforming Helen
Fielding, Zadie Smith, and J. K. Rowling for the American Reader." South
Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference. Baltimore, MD. November, 2002.
"Literary and Cultural Contexts for Zadie Smith's White Teeth." American
Ethnic Studies 501, "Leadership in American Ethnic Studies." Kansas
State University. February, 2001.
‘Zadie Smith’s
White Teeth: Happy Multicultural Land?’, in E
Magazine, December 2002 by Claire Squires
"Un/Settling Migrations:
Citizenship, Kinship and the Second Generation in Post-Immigrant Black Canadian
and Black British Women's Texts" by Andrea
Medovarski features White Teeth
Tournay, Petra,
'Challenging Shakespeare: Strategies of Writing Back in Zadie Smith's White Teeth
and Caryl Phillips's The Nature of
Blood', Postmodern Studies,
35.1 (August 2004), pp. 207-229.
Short
Sharp Shocks – John Mullan on satire in White Teeth
Past
Imperfect – John Mullan continues his analysis by looking at history in
White Teeth
After
Post-Colonialism – John Mullan completes his analysis
Sincerest
Form – John Mullan takes a look at Zadie Smith’s imitation of E. M.
Forster’s Howards End in On Beauty
The Autograph Man –
Adam Smith’s review for Cercles
White Teeth - Hari Kunzru's review of White
Teeth
Where
Novelists Fear to Tread – Theo Hobson on representations of the religious
mind in “On Beauty”
López-Ropero, Lourdes, ‘Homage and Revision:
Zadie Smith's Use of Forster in On Beauty’. Commonwealth Essays and Studies
32.2 (2010): 7-17
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