Artful Connections: Ways of Looking At/In Ali Smith's How to Be Both
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
7 Girl Meets Boy: Postcyborg Ethics, Individual Identity
JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES – VOLUME 16 (2018), 7-25. http://doi.org/10.18172/jes.3498 GIRL MEETS BOY: POSTCYBORG ETHICS, INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY AND COLLECTIVE RIGHTS IN THE POSTHUMAN AGE MÓNICA CALVO PASCUAL Universidad de Zaragoza [email protected] ABSTRACT. Taking as a point of departure the novel’s setting in a world controlled by online networks and global corporations, together with human beings’ position as decoders of the excess of information in contemporary culture, this essay provides a posthuman interpretation of Ali Smith’s Girl meets boy (2007) under the lenses of Rosi Braidotti’s postulates on posthumanity and Heidi Campbell’s postcyborg ethics. Thus, I analyse the ways in which the novel probes into the limits of humanity and individual identity as related to virtual environments, body politics and sexuality. Attention is also paid to the novel’s raising of collective awareness and social struggle against injustice and the oppression of women, homosexuals and third-world citizens as a response to their invisible, naturalized dehumanization by the contemporary global politics of consumer culture. Keywords: Posthuman, postcyborg ethics, identity, sexuality, consumer culture, globalization. 7 Journal of English Studies, vol. 16 (2018) 7-25 MÓNICA CALVO PASCUAL GIRL MEETS BOY: LA ÉTICA POST-CÍBORG, LA IDENTIDAD INDIVIDUAL Y LOS DERECHOS COLECTIVOS EN LA ERA POSTHUMANA RESUMEN. Partiendo de la contextualización de la novela en un mundo controlado por redes virtuales y corporaciones globales, junto con la posición de los seres humanos como descodificadores del exceso de información presente en la cultura contemporánea, el presente artículo ofrece una interpretación posthumana de la novela de Ali Smith Girl meets boy (2007) bajo el prisma de los postulados de Rosi Braidotti acerca de la posthumanidad y de la ética post- cíborg elaborada por Heidi Campbell. -
Complexities of Dwelling 1 Ben Davies, the Complexities Of
Complexities of Dwelling 1 Ben Davies, The Complexities of Dwelling in Ali Smith’s There but for the Abstract This article offers a sustained exploration of dwelling in Ali Smith’s There but for the. Focusing on the way the character Miles locks himself into a family’s bedroom, I argue that this move transforms a “spare” room into a significant gathering place. As part of his disruptive move, Miles also removes himself from dominant forms of activity and productivity, thereby offering an image of dwelling that is not motivated by capitalist routines of labour and profit. More abstractly, Miles’ form of dwelling opens up a space for thought; both characters and readers are invited to “take the measure” of Miles’ dwelling, as well as their own. Correlatively, the text is an intricate dwelling space, offering an important and challenging phenomenological invitation to the reader to dwell within and upon the relationship between language, space, time and thought; the text invites the reader to think about dwelling and being in contemporary society. Keywords: dwelling, language, space, time, reading, Ali Smith, There but for the Author Note: Ben Davies is Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Portsmouth. He is the author of Sex, Time, and Space in Contemporary Fiction: Exceptional Intercourse (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and the co-editor of Sex, Gender and Time in Fiction and Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Complexities of Dwelling 2 Towards the beginning of his essay “‘…Poetically Man Dwells…’” (1954), Martin Heidegger states: “our dwelling is harassed by the housing shortage. Even if that were not so, our dwelling today is harassed by work, made insecure by the hunt for gain and success, bewitched by the entertainment and recreation industry” (211). -
Intertextuality and the Plea for Plurality in Ali Smith's Autumn
Smithers 1 Intertextuality and the Plea for Plurality in Ali Smith’s Autumn BA Thesis English Language and Culture Annick Smithers 6268218 Supervisor: Simon Cook Second reader: Cathelein Aaftink 26 June 2020 4911 words Smithers 2 Abstract This thesis analyses the way in which intertextuality plays a role in Ali Smith’s Autumn. A discussion of the reception and some readings of the novel show that not much attention has been paid yet to intertextuality in Autumn, or in Smith’s other novels, for that matter. By discussing different theories of the term and highlighting the influence of Bakhtin’s dialogism on intertextuality, this thesis shows that both concepts support an important theme present in Autumn: an awareness and acceptance of different perspectives and voices. Through a close reading, this thesis analyses how this idea is presented in the novel. It argues that Autumn advocates an open-mindedness and shows that, in the novel, this is achieved through a dialogue. This can mainly be seen in scenes where the main characters Elisabeth and Daniel are discussing stories. The novel also shows the reverse of this liberalism: when marginalised voices are silenced. Subsequently, as the story illustrates the state of the UK just before and after the 2016 EU referendum, Autumn demonstrates that the need for a dialogue is more urgent than ever. Smithers 3 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4 “A Brexit Novel” ...................................................................................................................... -
The Ethics of Ali Smith's Artful
The Ethics of Ali Smith’s Artful The Ethics of Ali Smith’s Artful Zoe Kemp Department of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90007 [email protected] Abstract In this paper, I spring from Fredric Jameson’s seminal account of pastiche in Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, which portrays postmodern pastiche as the mere cannibalization of existing styles, such that stylistic innovation and critical intervention are precluded. To problematize Jameson’s assertion of the impotence of pastiche, I look at Scottish author Ali Smith’s 2012 work Artful, which is comprised of four lectures on European comparative literature interspersed with fictional, at times fantastical, narrative. Artful is, according to my reading, a pastiche in which Smith unconventionally intertwines literary criticism and fantastical fiction, defies citational conventions, and disorientingly manipulates the paratext in order to at once acknowledge the rules laid out by the Anglo-American academy that formed her, and to provocatively break them. I argue that Artful performs that which Idelber Avelar calls for in “The Ethics of Interpretation and the International Division of Intellectual Labor”: that is, the dismantling of the notion that there is a split between those capable of producing thought and those capable of producing objects for thought, and the resultant formulation of a pedagogical ethics that asks students to bear in mind their own positionality relative to their objects of study, even if doing so has a radically destabilizing effect on the academy that is the condition of possibility of said study. Smith's Artful fragments the lecture form in a way that makes us consider the possibility that the coherent literary criticism we expect from academia may have an oppressive quality, if it doesn’t self-problematize in the way that Avelar asks it to and in the way that Smith demonstrates that it can. -
Best Scottish Books of 2014
ISSN 1754-1514 The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber Hogarth, 2014 —chosen by Stuart Kelly, freelance critic and The writer James Robertson’s experimental collection 365 – 365 stories of 365 words each, from January Bottle 1 to December 31 – is a joy of possibilities. Fable, satire, epiphany, folk-tale, meditation and denunciation are all encompassed in these Imp restricted little wonders. Ali Smith’s How To Be Both is a study in how not to be both – two novellas spliced together, half the copies of Issue 16, November 2014 which begin with the contemporary and move Best Scottish Books of 2014 on to the Renaissance, and half vice versa (or should that be vice verso?) – meaning the as 2014 a good year for Scottish writ- reader is left both choosing and choiceless. ing? And – more importantly – have Michel Faber’s The Book Of Strange New Things Wyou missed anything? There’s still is an absolute wonder, featuring Earth’s first time to catch up! ASLS has asked seventeen Christian missionary to an alien planet, whose authors, critics, academics, and members of wife sends increasingly worrying interstellar the literary sector to tell us about their favour- emails about how alien the Earth is becoming. ite Scottish book from this past year. The book It’s plangent, beautiful, sincere and strange. could be in English, Scots, or Gaelic, it could be published for the first time in 2014 or re- Byssus by Jen Hadfield issued this year, and could be a work of fiction, Picador, 2014 poetry, or academic research. -
Fast Forward Programme 2017
1 >> Fast Forward: Women’s Writing in the 21st Century >> Day 1 | Friday, 8 September 10:30—10:50 Registration 10:50—11:00 Welcome 11:00—12:30 Panel 1 12:30—14:00 Keynote 14:00—14:45 Lunch 14:45—16:15 Panel 2 16:15—16:30 Break 16:30—18:00 Panel 3 >> Day 2 | Saturday, 9 September 09:15—10:45 Panel 4 10:45—11:00 Break 11:00—12:30 Panel 5 12:30—13:15 Lunch 13:15—14:45 Workshop & reading 14:45—16:15 Panel 6 16:15—16:30 Close 2 >> Day 1 | Friday, 8 September 10:30—10:50 Registration 10:50—11:00 Welcome by conference organisers Fiona Martinez, Krystina Osborne & Veronika Schuchter 11:00—12:30 Panel 1 (Chair: Hannah Boast) Malin Christina Wikström (University of Abderdeen): Fighting the Stigma One Word at the Time: the Representation of Mental Health in Janice Galloway’s Jellyfish Shareena Hamzah Z. (Swansea University): Jeanette Winterson: Literary preacher converting conformist mentality Paula McGrath (University of Limerick): Mining the Critical for the Creative: Trauma in A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing 12:30—14:00 Keynote (Chair: Veronika Schuchter) Anna Ball (Nottingham Trent University): Wingwomen: Towards a Contemporary Feminist Politics of Flight in Twenty-First Century Women’s Writing 14:00—14:45 Lunch 14:45—16:15 Panel 2 (Chair: Fiona Martinez) Chloe Ashbridge (University of Nottingham): Zadie Smith’s Urbanisms of Injustice and Spatial Freedom in the Post-Crash Era Contemporary Writing from the North of England and Scotland. -
The Interminable Tapeworm Time Perception and Stream of Consciousness in Ali Smith’S Fiction
Gezels !1 Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy The Interminable Tapeworm Time Perception and Stream of Consciousness in Ali Smith’s Fiction Supervisor: Paper submitted in partial fulfillment Prof. Dr. Gert Buelens of the requirements for the degree “Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde, Engels-Nederlands” by Helena Gezels December 2016 Gezels !2 Acknowledgments Thank you to professor Buelens for rejecting my first thesis idea, which luckily lead me to consider Ali Smith as a topic; I thank him for his advice and his guidance, his skepticism and his support. Secondly, thank you to Kate for agreeing to (proof)read this for me and taking away some of my fears and insecurities by sharing her experiences with this thesis writing. Finally, thank you to Ali Smith herself, for never ceasing to be a source of inspiration and amazement. Gezels !3 Table of contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1: A theory of mind and time 7 1. Founding fathers: Henri Bergson and internal time 7 2. Time in the novel 10 2.1 Fictional knowledge: the novel in time 10 2.2 A methodology for internal time analysis 12 3. Stream of consciousness as a style 17 3.1 What is stream of consciousness? 17 3.2 Stream of consciousness: narratological techniques 19 3.3 Stream of consciousness: rhetorical techniques 25 Chapter 2: Time in Ali Smith’s fiction 28 1. On the outside: time as a theme 28 1.1 Structure 29 1.2 Symbolism 36 2. On the inside: modes of internal time 43 2.1 The Kinetic Mode 43 2.2 The Time-dimension Mode 46 2.3 The Mnemonic Mode 49 Chapter 3: Stream of Consciousness 53 1. -
Literacki Splot Kwantowy. How to Be Both Ali Smith
KATARZYNA BAZARNIK Literacki splot kwantowy How to Be Both Ali Smith The poet has come back to being a poet after decades of being virtuous instead. Can’t you be both? (Atwood 2006) Ali Smith, zdaniem Sebastiana Barry’ego „szkocka kandydatka do Nobla” (Barry 2016), to z pewnością jedna z najciekawszych postaci brytyjskiej sceny literackiej. Urodziła się w 1962 roku w Inverness jako najmłodsza z piątki rodzeństwa. Studiowała literaturę angielską na Uniwersytecie w Aberdeen. Następnie rozpoczęła pracę nad doktoratem z angielskiej lite- ratury modernistycznej w Newnham College na Uniwersytecie w Camb- ridge. W tym czasie poznała swoją obecną partnerkę życiową, reżyserkę Ali Smith Sarah Woods, z którą wspólnie zaangażowała się w działania teatralne. Ostatecznie, zamiast doktoratu, Smith napisała kilka sztuk wystawionych na edynburskim Fringe Festival i Cambridge Footlights. Na początku lat 90. ubiegłego wieku pracowała krótko na Uniwersytecie w Strathclyde, How to Be Both ale kłopoty zdrowotne sprawiły, że porzuciła to zajęcie i przeniosła się z powrotem do Cambridge, gdzie mieszka i tworzy do dziś. Choć Smith zadebiutowała jeszcze w czasie studiów w Szkocji jako poet- ka, a jej wiersze zostały nagrodzone1, to zasłynęła jako mistrzyni opowia- dania. Jej pierwszy prozatorski tom, Free Love and Other Stories, opubli- kowany w 1995 roku, otrzymał dwie nagrody za najlepszy debiut: Saltire First Book of the Year Award oraz Scottish Arts Council Book Award. Ko- splot kwantowy. Literacki lejne zbiory opowiadań pod przewrotnymi tytułami: Other Stories and Other Stories, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The First Person and Other 1 Otrzymała Bobby Aitken Memorial Prize. 191 Stories oraz Public Library and Other Stories, wychodziły w latach 1999, 2003, 2008 i 2015 roku. -
International Literature Showcase in Norwich
PRESS RELEASE Immediate release Winterson, Macdonald, Smith open first ever International Literature Showcase in Norwich 18 – 21 March Writers’ Centre Norwich welcomes delegates from over twenty countries to the first International Literature Showcase, held in partnership with the British Council and supported by Arts Council England. As England’s only UNESCO City of Literature Norwich is fast gaining a reputation as a world leader for literary innovation. Twenty-four UK writers will take part in the four-day programme including writer and broadcaster Jeanette Winterson and three 2014 COSTA Book Award winners; Novel Award Winner Ali Smith for How to be both, First Novel Award winner Emma Healey for Elizabeth is Missing and Biography Award winner Helen Macdonald for H is for Hawk. Delegates also include 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Eimear McBride for A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. It says something of the literary climate and support available, that all have connections to the Eastern Region. Smith & Macdonald both studied and live in Cambridge and McBride lives in Norwich as does Healey, a graduate of UEA’s MA Creative Writing. The international and national writers will meet with over fifty literature development practitioners from around the world to explore new ideas and plan future collaborations. Chris Gribble, CEO of Writers’ Centre Norwich says: “Norwich is fast becoming synonymous with literary innovation. We’ve invited writers keen to develop their international connections. We’re delighted that this also includes writers from our region who’ve had such success over the last year.” Cortina Butler, British Council Director of Literature says: “The International Showcase taking place in Norwich will help shape the global literature sector, fostering meaningful working relationships between writers and literature organisations for many years to come”. -
Katedra Anglistiky a Amerikanistiky Magisterská
Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Magisterská diplomová práce 2020 Anna Janíková Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Anna Janíková The Analysis of Postmodernist Features in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Novels Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2020 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to thank my supervisor prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. for her kindness and helpful guidance. Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................... 6 1 Welcome to Postmodernism ......................................................................... 11 1.1 Introducing Postmodernism ................................................................... 11 1.2 Lyotard and the Grand Narratives ......................................................... 14 1.3 Postmodernism in Literature ................................................................. 22 2 The Collage of The Seasons: Fragmentation and Temporality..................... 27 2.1 Look Who’s Talking: The Narrative Voices in the Seasonal Quartet ... 29 2.2 There Is No Time Like the Present: The Seasonal Novels and Time .... 35 3 Intertextuality in Autumn, Winter and Spring .............................................. -
4 Ali Smith's Girl Meets
Diplomarbeit Titel der Diplomarbeit “Universal Truth(s)? Politics, Metafiction and the Theme of Storytelling in Rewritings of Classical Myths by Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson and Ali Smith” Verfasserin Daniela K. Fasching angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. Phil.) Wien, im November 2010 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik (Diplom) Betreuerin: o.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik Content 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1 2 Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad............................................................................... 7 2.1 The Odyssey and Its Reception............................................................................... 7 2.2 Against and Beyond the Odyssey .........................................................................10 2.2.1 A Story from the Other Side..........................................................................12 2.2.2 Unravelling the Odyssey............................................................................... 14 2.3 A Female Perspective............................................................................................19 2.3.1 Female Roles in Man-Made Myth................................................................ 20 2.3.2 Penelope’s Dilemma......................................................................................25 2.3.3 Guilt and Excuses..........................................................................................30 -
MA Thesis Literatuur- En Cultuurkritiek, Utrecht University a Comparison
MA Thesis Literatuur- en Cultuurkritiek, Utrecht University A Comparison of the 2014 and 2015 Winners for the Man Booker Prize and the Folio Prize Fung Man 3993116 [email protected] Supervisor: Paul Franssen Second Reader: Cathelein Aaftink July 2016 Man 1 Fung Man 3993116 Dr. Arienslaan 44, 3454 XD De Meern MA Thesis British English July 2016 13.076 words Abstract This thesis is focused on how the Folio Prize was created in 2014 to challenge the Man Booker Prize, as the Folio Prize’s focus lies solely on literary fiction, while the Booker Prize is accused of being awarded to popular fiction. The winners of the 2014 and 2015 Man Booker Prize, Richard Flanagan with The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Marlon James with A Brief History of Seven Killings respectively, and the 2014 and 2015 Folio Prize winners, George Saunders with Tenth of December and Akhil Sharma with Family Life, are analysed and compared to each other. Furthermore, Ali Smith’s novel How to Be Both was shortlisted for both the Booker and the Folio Prize and thus offers a glimpse of how a novel can be considered both popular and literary. These analyses chart some contemporary literary criteria, but do not offer a template for what a literary fiction novel is nowadays. Man 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 2. The Legacy of Literary Awards ............................................................................................. 6 2.1. From Critic to Jury ........................................................................................................... 7 2.2. Media and Diversity ......................................................................................................... 8 2.3. Sales and Canon ............................................................................................................. 10 2.4. Literary vs. Popular Fiction ..........................................................................................