Biblical Intertextuality and the Crisis of Christian Tradition in Zadie Smith's White Teeth
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2000) is usually discussed as a novel aboutrace, migration and hybridity, but its representation of religion has received far lessattention. This paper explores how Smith uses biblical allusion, quotation andstylisation to reflect on the place of Christianity in a secular and multicultural Britain.Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality, Gérard Genette’s typology oftranstextual relations, Linda Hutcheon’s theory of parody and sociological accounts ofsecularisation, the study analyses three groups of episodes: Samad Iqbal’s parodicimitation of King James English during a school debate on the Harvest Festival; thefriendly dispute between Clara and Alsana over the shared Abrahamic story; and thesectarian faith of Hortense Bowden, a Jehovah’s Witness awaiting the end of the world,together with the colonial Christianity that shaped her family history. The analysisdemonstrates that Smith’s biblical intertexts function as a source of complex humour, ameans of interfaith dialogue and an instrument of critique directed at both hollow ritualand religious exclusivity. The paper contributes to the study of religion, intertextualityand postmodern poetics in contemporary British fiction.
Author: Davronova Bakhshanda
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225464261