Summer

Name: Summer
ISBN: 9787533972400

阿莉·史密斯 / 刘慧宁Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaJul 2023

4.3

Word count: 141K words
Chapters: 6
ISBN: 9787533972400

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Summary

Of all the seasons, we load summer with the most meaning; we expect the most from summer. Xia, summer, refers to the great beam, the most important beam, and also to connection itself. Summer can bear all this, and so it is called summer.

In this story, people meet in summer carrying a shared broken memory. Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale is an immortal story, staged on a summer's day in the 1980s; Daniel, the protagonist of Autumn, returns, his fragmented recollections bound up with a summer internment camp; Sacha writes to a stranger in isolation, Hero, telling her that swifts will carry summer's message, bearing the warmest blessings.

—"Don't worry, another world is possible. When you are trapped in the worst world, it matters that you can say this."

Editor's review

Summer is the concluding volume of Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet and one that readers in the Chinese-speaking world have eagerly awaited. Unlike its predecessors Autumn, Winter, and Spring, Summer does not simply continue the seasonal timeline; it interweaves the earlier characters and themes with present-day reality in a wondrous way, forming a complex and tension-filled literary tapestry. With her signature stream-of-consciousness style, Smith fuses into one whole the picture of British society under the 2020 pandemic lockdown, the refugee crisis, family relations, and the true nature of art. In the book, characters from different times and spaces—a scientist of the World War II era, a contemporary filmmaker, a child in an immigration detention center—echo one another, together exploring the eternal theme of "connection" and "isolation." Smith's prose is light and poetic, her leaping narrative steeped in profound thought; she writes not only a season but captures the mood and spiritual predicament of an era. Reading Summer is an intellectual and emotional challenge of a dual kind: it asks readers to set aside expectations of linear story and immerse themselves in the flow of language and the collision of images; what they finally gain is a finer insight into human nature and the times.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love experimental literature and stream-of-consciousness writing
Thinkers with a strong interest in social issues and the depths of human nature
Devoted followers of Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet
Literature lovers eager to encounter the latest currents in contemporary British fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers who strongly prefer traditional linear narrative and clear plot
Readers seeking light entertainment or a single-theme story

Reading tips

It is advisable to read Autumn, Winter, and Spring first to better understand the character connections and thematic threads
While reading, do not rush to sort out every thread; first feel the rhythm of the language and the layering of images
The character map in the appendix may help, but immersing yourself in the flow of the text itself is encouraged

About the publisher

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House is a Chinese publisher specializing in literary publishing. Judging from the 808 titles in the database, its publishing areas cover world classics, foreign literature, social novels, folk literature and classic works, as well as modern and contemporary literature and prose. Representative titles include foreign literary translations such as Anna Karenina, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, In Praise of Shadows and The Complete Tragedies and Comedies of Shakespeare, alongside classic works by Lao She and Lu Xun such as Camel Xiangzi, Teahouse and Wandering. Its authors and translators include Leo Tolstoy, Cao Ying, Lao She, Yukio Mishima, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and Zhu Shenghao. The press emphasizes the translation and introduction of classic texts and the compilation of native literary works, giving equal weight to Chinese and foreign literature. Owing to limited public information, its specific series and editorial policies are not elaborated here.

版权信息
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致谢
译后记

FAQ

Can I read Summer without having read the earlier volumes?

It can be read independently, but the book has extensive intertextual ties to characters and themes from the earlier works; having read them will bring a richer, deeper reading experience.

What is the narrative style of this book?

It uses a typical stream-of-consciousness approach: the timeline leaps, perspectives shift frequently, and characters' inner monologues interweave with external events, emphasizing momentary impressions and associations rather than continuous plot progression.

What special meaning does "summer" carry in this book?

Here "summer" refers to the natural season, but also metaphorically to a specific historical period (2020) full of crisis and lockdown yet yearning for connection and release, and it symbolizes the ardent, bright, life-giving parts of memory, art, and human nature.

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About the author

阿莉·史密斯 Author

Ali Smith is an author of foreign literature with a relatively large number of works in this database; eight titles are currently included, with representative works such as Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—known as the "Seasonal Quartet"—as well as How to Be Both and The Accidental. Judging from the titles and the common categories, her writing often revolves around individual circumstances and emotional shifts amid the changing seasons, and appeals to readers of both youth literature and foreign literature. In the database her works are classified under foreign literature and youth literature, suggesting that her narratives are both literary and close to ordinary readers' emotional experience. It should be noted that the database does not provide information on her nationality, dates of birth and death, or English name, and public information is limited; this introduction therefore avoids biographical details and focuses on the themes and reading position of her works, so that readers may gain an overall picture of the author.

刘慧宁 Author

Liu Huining is a Chinese book editor and translator about whom limited public information is available. Two of her works are included in the database, both under foreign literature: Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet (four volumes) and Summer. Judging from the subject matter of these two works, her efforts center on translating and introducing contemporary English-language literature, with particular attention to novels structured around the seasons and marked by delicate, experimentally inclined storytelling. Such works place high demands on a translator's linguistic sensitivity and sense of rhythm, requiring the Chinese text to preserve the original's shifting sense of time and poetic texture. The available materials are not sufficient to reconstruct her full career, but it is clear that she has helped bring Ali Smith's series to Chinese readers, offering readable translations that contribute to the circulation of contemporary foreign literature in China. Her translating style and choice of material are worth noting as readers approach these two works.