Children of the Culture Wars: Secularism, Aesthetics, and Judgments of Value in Zadie Smith’s On Beauty

Minutes before she jumps into Howard Belsey’s lap for a dissolute sex scene that could make even Humbert Humbert blush, Victoria Kipps – daughter of Monty Kipps, Howard’s conservative nemesis and fellow Rembrandt scholar – explains why Howard’s class at Wellington College is “a cult classic” (312). With a pitch-perfect blend of earnestness and droll irony, Victoria’s discussion of Howard’s pedagogy provides one of contemporary fiction’s clearest and funniest descriptions of what Rita Felski describes as the “sensibility” of the contemporary “critical mood” (Limits 6). It involves an extensive explanation of why Howard simply “can’t say I like the tomato” (311, original emphasis).