(2012) is Zadie Smith’s fourth novel and its publication was long awaited after a seven-year hiatus since the publication of
On Beauty(2005), only broken by some short stories and her first book of essays,
Changing my Mind(2009). The novel was well received and it went on to be adapted into a television film for BBC Two in 2016.
NWis Smith’s most complex novel to date in terms of its plot, structure, and narrative devices.
NW, which stands for North West, returns to the suburb of Willesden but in a more decisively critical manner. This North West is also a sort of No-Where in which a group of characters get lost and some, eventually, are found. The novel does not hide the crude realistic portrayals of what it means to be female, black British, working-class, of what it feels…
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Citation: Perez Zapata, Beatriz. "NW". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 April 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34687, accessed 25 November 2024.]
