History and Performance of Truth in The Fraud

Abstract

Zadie Smith’s novel The Fraud revisits the Victorian-era Tichborne Trial to interrogate questions of truth, authorship, class mobility, race, and narrative authority. Set in nineteenth-century England and partially in colonial Jamaica, the novel blends historical fiction with metafictional commentary, offering a layered meditation on authenticity and performance. Through the intertwined perspectives of Eliza Touchet, Andrew Bogle, and Sir Roger Tichborne’s claimant, Smith reconstructs a public spectacle that destabilizes legal, social, and racial identities. This article analyzes The Fraud as a postmodern historical novel that challenges archival certainty and exposes the constructed nature of truth within imperial and literary traditions. Drawing upon theories of historiographic metafiction and postcolonial critique, the study argues that Smith transforms the Victorian scandal into a contemporary reflection on misinformation, authorship, and the politics of credibility. The novel ultimately repositions marginalized voices within imperial history and redefines the relationship between fiction, fact, and authority.