The Autograph Man

The Autograph Man, published in 2002, is the second novel by Zadie Smith.^[1] It follows the progress of a Jewish-Chinese Londoner named Alex-Li Tandem, who buys and sells autographs for a living and is obsessed with celebrities. Eventually, his obsession culminates in a meeting with the elusive American-Russian actress Kitty Alexander, a star from Hollywood's Golden Age. In 2003, the novel won the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize. The novel, while remaining a commercial success, was not as well received by readers and critics as her previous and first novel White Teeth (2000). Smith had confessed that prior to working on The Autograph Man she had writer's block.

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