The spherification of the Victorian novel

Several novels by Zadie Smith (London, 1975), one of the most important writers in contemporary English literature, had been published in Catalan since her debut, White teethBut the vicissitudes of the publishing world (what gory novel wouldn't Smith herself write!) have condemned it to the unglamorous oblivion of secondhand bookstores, and thus the appearance ofThe fraud, her latest novel, splendidly translated by Marta Pera and published by the very young Jande publishing houseThis is great news. And we hope there will be many more to come, because Smith's novels are too good not to be part of the literary conversation among Catalan-language book readers.

The fraud It contains most of the typical elements of Smith's narrative: social injustices, power and class, witty phrases, humor, otherness, racism, colonialism, and identity formation, and none of the clichés usually used to write about these topics. It's the grace of being especially intelligent, of having a playful streak, and last but not leastTo have one of the most solid literary traditions – the English one – to manipulate: Smith launches himself, without a parachute, to orchestrate a kind of deconstruction of the Victorian novel, and has very short chapters (there are dozens, no more than a page and a half long) to emulate the ones between them David Copperfield. Even Dickens himself is not spared the author's poisoned barbs, as she reproaches him for only speaking of misery in England and never making any reference to what was happening in the Empire's colonies.

The longest trial in English history

One of these colonies was the island of Jamaica, which, for family reasons, is especially close to the author. The fraud It is one of the central themes of the plot, one of the recurring topics discussed by the men and, above all, the abolitionist women who want to engage in political action, outraged by the social injustices that cry out to heaven: this is one of Smith's obsessions, to which she returns book after book. One of the protagonists, the young Bogle, had been a slave in Jamaica, and he is the key witness in the Tichborne Trial, a trial that was taken seriously and was the longest in English history. It determined whether an Australian butcher was who he claimed to be, the heir to an English barony, or, on the contrary, whether he was an imposter. The skill and subtlety with which Smith prompts reflection on imposture and deceit as the only ways to make one's way in an unjust and unbalanced world, and the ability to draw parallels between the Victorian era and the present day, without emphasizing them, are two examples of true mastery.

Aside from its ability to subvert the genre to which the novel belongs—historical, but with a postmodern perspective that shatters all conventions—there is meticulous research, but all the characters Smith borrows from history also undergo freer, more nuanced transformations. This happens to the almost-protagonist Eliza, the driving force and perhaps the novel's greatest discovery, a Catholic widow capable of falling in love with both her cousin William and the woman he has remarried. Drawn to the abolitionist cause, and a fascinated attendee at the trial, she feels an overwhelming passion for Bogle, whom she wants to help in an excessive way, bordering on sentimental affection, in behavior that is, in essence, a biting critique of the excessive passion some people put into cooperation and caring for others—perhaps another defining characteristic. If, on top of that, the entire novel is seasoned with invectives and mockery of the writing profession, with memorable conversations between rivals about the pettiness and grandeur of the literary world, then you could say the feast is served.