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SAITO (UTA), MIDORI
Associate professor @ Tsuru Bunka University
Bio
Midori Saito is an associate professor at Tsuru Bunka University. She has a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London. She has contributed to I am Black/White/Yellow (Mango, 2007), and published ‘On Representations of Nature and Women in Caribbean Literature’ in the Hitotsubashi Journal of Arts and Sciences (2014).
Geographical location :
Research Area and Interest :
Social Media
Panel(s)
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Presentation(s)
- Summary: Zadie Smith is best known for her novels such as White Teeth(2002), Autograph Man(2005), On Beauty(2005), NW(2012), that deal with themes of race relations and class in a contemporary multicultural society. Her novels are discussed and analyzed in many ways but the feminist perspective in her novels is underexamined and female characters are rarely central in criticism of her writings. On Beauty, while depicting two rivaling families: the Belseys and the Kipps, Smith underlines a friendship between two mothers of the family: Kiki and Carlene. Likewise, in NW, Leah and Natalie are portrayed as best friends but grew apart as they choose different paths. For female characters such as Kiki and Carlene, or Leah and Natalie, finding a place where they can truly belong is impossible, and they struggle with their identities and motherhood. In this paper, I shall focus on the friendship between two women portrayed in On Beauty and NW to analyze why Smith has continuously explored the friendship between two women of different racial backgrounds.