1Research Scholar, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur
2Assistant Professor, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur
The term "hysterical realism," coined by James Wood in his 2000 review of Zadie Smith's White Teeth, identifies a postmodern literary mode characterized by narrative excess, frenetic storytelling, and intellectual over-saturation. This paper revisits Zadie Smith's early novels—White Teeth (2000) and The Autograph Man (2002)—to explore how her fiction embodies and simultaneously subverts the tenets of hysterical realism. Both novels teem with eccentric characters, sprawling subplots, and manic energy that reflect the anxieties of a globalized, multicultural Britain at the turn of the millennium. Through a close reading of key narrative moments—such as Archie Jones's attempted suicide in White Teeth and Alex-Li Tandem's obsession with celebrity memorabilia in The Autograph Man—the paper argues that Smith's seemingly excessive narrative form conceals a deep moral and emotional intelligence. While she inherits the maximalist exuberance of Rushdie, DeLillo, and Wallace, Smith transforms hysterical realism into a medium for exploring sincerity, identity, and the fragmented self in contemporary London. The study concludes that Smith's early works do not merely reproduce the hysteria of modern life but use it to question the limits of postmodern irony and the possibilities of empathy in a multicultural world.
Keywords: Hysterical Realism, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, The Autograph Man, Multiculturalism
How to cite this article: Kaushik S, Sharma KK. Hysterical Realism in Zadie Smith: A Study of White Teeth and The Autograph Man. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(10s): 636-641; DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.10s.76
Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None