Decoded: New Essays on Zadie Smith examines the middle period of Zadie Smith's illustrious career as a dynamic, experimental novelist of contemporary Black British writing. The five new essays in Decoded, written by innovative scholars in the fields of British literature and African Diasporic studies, bring together the most original and current analysis of Smith's novels and literary criticism since the release of Smith's NW (2012). Decoded includes discussions of NW, Swing Time, The Embassy of Cambodia, Grand Union, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations. The essays delve into Smith's philosophy about the role and responsibility of the artist, her ardent defense of the function of the novel in the digital age, and the connection between writers and readers. Also illuminated is Smith's growth as a writer, her reconceptualization of racial identity, and shifting literary techniques from hysterical realism to social realism. Finally, the book discusses Smith's role as a public intellectua, and her evolution from an optimistic champion of multiculturalism to a subdued, austere realist who has broadened her social critique from the local to the global arena.

Decoded: New Essays on Zadie Smith examines the middle period of Zadie Smith's illustrious career as a dynamic, experimental novelist of contemporary Black British writing. The five new essays in Decoded, written by innovative scholars in the fields of British literature and African Diasporic studies, bring together the most original and current analysis of Smith's novels and literary criticism since the release of Smith's NW (2012). Decoded includes discussions of NW, Swing Time, The Embassy of Cambodia, Grand Union, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations. The essays delve into Smith's philosophy about the role and responsibility of the artist, her ardent defense of the function of the novel in the digital age, and the connection between writers and readers. Also illuminated is Smith's growth as a writer, her reconceptualization of racial identity, and shifting literary techniques from hysterical realism to social realism. Finally, the book discusses Smith's role as a public intellectua, and her evolution from an optimistic champion of multiculturalism to a subdued, austere realist who has broadened her social critique from the local to the global arena.

Not Your Mother’s Mammy examines how black artists of the African diaspora, many of them former domestics, reconstruct the black female subjectivities of domestics in fiction, film, and visual and performance art. In doing so, they undermine one-dimensional images of black domestics as victims lacking voice and agency and prove domestic workers are more than the aprons they wear. An analysis of selected media by Alice Childress, Nandi Keyi, Victoria Brown, Kara Walker, Mikalene Thomas, Rene Cox, Lynn Nottage, and others provides examples of generations of domestics who challenged their performative roles of subservience by engaging in subversive actions contradicting the image of the deferential black maid. Through verbal confrontation, mobilization, passive resistance, and performance, black domestics find their voices, exercise their power, and maintain their dignity in the face of humiliation. Not Your Mother’s Mammy brings to life stories of domestics often neglected in academic studies, such as the complexity of interracial homoerotic relationships between workers and employers, or the mental health challenges of domestics that lead to depression and suicide. In line with international movements like #MeToo and #timesup, the women in these stories demand to be heard.  

Not Your Mother’s Mammy examines how black artists of the African diaspora, many of them former domestics, reconstruct the black female subjectivities of domestics in fiction, film, and visual and performance art. In doing so, they undermine one-dimensional images of black domestics as victims lacking voice and agency and prove domestic workers are more than the aprons they wear. An analysis of selected media by Alice Childress, Nandi Keyi, Victoria Brown, Kara Walker, Mikalene Thomas, Rene Cox, Lynn Nottage, and others provides examples of generations of domestics who challenged their performative roles of subservience by engaging in subversive actions contradicting the image of the deferential black maid. Through verbal confrontation, mobilization, passive resistance, and performance, black domestics find their voices, exercise their power, and maintain their dignity in the face of humiliation. Not Your Mother’s Mammy brings to life stories of domestics often neglected in academic studies, such as the complexity of interracial homoerotic relationships between workers and employers, or the mental health challenges of domestics that lead to depression and suicide. In line with international movements like #MeToo and #timesup, the women in these stories demand to be heard.  

Zadie Smith: Critical Essays is a timely collection of critical articles examining how Zadie Smith's novels and short stories interrogate race, postcolonialism, and identity. Essays explore the various ways Smith approaches issues of race, either by deconstructing notions of race or interrogating the complexity of biracial identity; and how Smith takes on contemporary debates concerning notions of Britishness, Englishness, and Black Britishness. Some essays also consider the shifting identities adopted by those who identify with both British and West Indian, South Asian, or East Asian ancestry. Other essays explore Smith's contemporary postcolonial approach to Britain's colonial legacy, and the difference between how immigrants and first-generation British-born children deal with cultural alienation and displacement. This thought-provoking collection is a much-needed critical tool for students and researchers in both contemporary British literature and Diasporic literature and culture.