"The Fraud: Zadie Smith's Unsettling Exploration of Truth and Fiction"

Zadie Smith, acclaimed author of "White Teeth," has shifted towards realism in her subsequent novels, which some critics argue has made her less interesting. Smith's first novel was praised for its audacious unreality and exuberance, but she has since embraced a more morally serious approach to writing. Her latest novel, "The Fraud," is a historical novel set during the Tichborne trial of the 1870s and explores the themes of identity and truth. Smith's defense of the novel as an inherently fraudulent yet morally urgent art form is both contradictory and thought-provoking.