The Conflict of Generations in Z. Smith’s Novel ‘White Teeth’

The article is devoted to the theme of generational conflict in the novel White Teeth written by a contemporary British writer of multicultural orientation Zadie Smith. The conflict of generations is central to this work and is reflected in the fates of several migrant families against the backdrop of the ethno-cultural diversity of late 20th and early 21st century London. The comprehension of this problem is important in the context of analyzing the consequences of the global paradigm shift in the postcolonial epoch, as well as from the general cultural and social points of view. The research is aimed at identifying the peculiarities of the author's representation of the conflict of generations in the novel. The interpretation of the conflict focuses on the characters' role in the historical process, as well as on their belonging to specific generational cycles, based on the sociological theory of generations. The interdisciplinary approach allowed for a deeper analysis of the interactions between the characters in Smith's debut work. It is concluded that the generational conflict in the novel White Teeth is a multidimensional, complex phenomenon that reflects the realities of the second half of the 20th – early 21st centuries. In the novel, the conflict is presented in the form of an opposition between the conservative worldview of the ‘traditionalist’ generation, characterized by radicalism, fundamentalism, mythological alienation, and the modern worldview of the ‘boomers’ and ‘Generation X’, which is characterized by detraditionalism, relativism, individualism, and deconstruction. The second generation of migrants formed in Great Britain in the 1970s and 1980s is experiencing an identity crisis, social isolation, and alienation, no longer perceiving their parents as absolute authority figures in the context of a multicultural reality.