Autumn

Name: Autumn
ISBN: 9787533970017

阿莉·史密斯 / 王晓英Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaJan 2023

4.3

Word count: 81K words
Chapters: 6
ISBN: 9787533970017

Report an error Find this book

Summary

Elizabeth, a British university art history teacher, was close friends with Daniel, her much older next-door neighbor, when she was a girl; the two often discussed art and life. In his youth Daniel was an artist and a good friend of Christine Keeler, the model at the heart of a notorious 1950s British political scandal. Starting from a real political scandal, the novel explores the glass ceiling facing women artists against the backdrop of their time and projects onto it the spiritual condition of Elizabeth and the British people during Brexit. The book interweaves Daniel's dying dreams with Elizabeth's memories of her girlhood, together composing a picture of contemporary British social life.

Editor's review

Ali Smith's Autumn, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is a masterpiece and the opening installment of her Seasonal Quartet, a work steeped in poetry and political metaphor. It is not a linear narrative in the traditional sense but a tapestry of stream-of-consciousness fragments that weaves together the social fractures and individual isolation following Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum. At its heart is the deep, age-defying friendship between elderly art historian Daniel Gluck and his young neighbor Elisabeth Demand. The present-day thread of Elisabeth visiting the comatose Daniel is interspersed with recollections of their conversations across decades, Daniel's dreams about the pop artist Pauline Boty, and Elisabeth's absurd clashes with rigid bureaucracy (such as the post office). Through the lens of autumn—a season of both decay and harvest—Smith acutely captures the alienation, nostalgia and longing for connection of post-truth Britain. Her language is highly experimental and densely layered with imagery, fusing classical myth, art criticism and current affairs into one. Reading it is like viewing a Cubist painting: readers must set aside expectations of a clear plot and immerse themselves in the rhythm and emotional density of the language itself. The book's value lies in its brave confrontation of a central contemporary perplexity—how to find meaning and human warmth in a divided world—making it a gift to readers unafraid of challenge who crave a profound literary experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Veteran literary readers who love experimental writing and stream of consciousness and savor the beauty of language itself
Readers interested in observing and reflecting on contemporary European social and political realities (such as Brexit) and their cultural impact
Contemplative readers who appreciate fragmented narrative and are adept at constructing meaning from metaphor and imagery
Readers seeking a serious novel that explores timeless themes of time, memory, art and death

Not a good fit for

Entertainment-oriented readers who want strong plotting, fast pacing and traditional story structure
Readers completely unfamiliar with British cultural and political contexts who are unwilling to make connections

Reading tips

Do not rush to sort out every thread on a first reading; feel the rhythm of the language and the flow of emotion first, and allow yourself to get lost in the imagery.
It helps to learn a little about the social background of the 2016 Brexit referendum and about the artist Pauline Boty mentioned in the book (modeled on the real pop art pioneer Pauline Boty), which will deepen your understanding.
After reading, continue with Ali Smith's Winter, Spring and Summer to appreciate the overall design and evolution of the Seasonal Quartet.

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
Ⅰ（上）
Ⅰ（下）
Ⅱ
Ⅲ
后记

FAQ

Is this book difficult to read?

It does have a certain threshold. The difficulty lies not in complex plotting but in the nonlinear narrative and the dense literary and artistic references. It does not offer an easy reading experience, but it rewards patient readers with rich aesthetic and intellectual returns.

Do I need to understand Brexit beforehand?

Knowing the basic background helps a great deal. The novel's emotional tone is closely bound up with the anxieties of the era, and Brexit permeates the text as a symbol of social division. But even without familiarity with the specific events, you can still feel the pervasive sense of alienation and nostalgia for a bygone era.

Is this the first book in a series? What comes next?

Yes, Autumn is the first book in Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet. The subsequent books, in publication order, are Winter, Spring and Summer. The four are independent yet subtly connected, together forming a grand panorama of contemporary life.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.

王晓英 Author

Publicly available information about Wang Xiaoying is limited, and the existing sources are not enough to confirm her nationality, dates of birth and death, or personal background. Judging from the eight titles held in the collection, her editorial and translation work mainly covers two areas: foreign literature and modern poetry. Representative works include the complete four-volume set of Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet, as well as individual volumes such as Autumn, Winter, and White Sand, which shows a sustained interest in contemporary English-language literature, especially narrative works organized around seasons and nature. In addition, the reading assessment guide to Ai Qing's poetry belongs to the category of modern-poetry reading and evaluation materials, while The God of War and The Mistress of the Ritz touch on other foreign-literary subjects. Overall, her work leans toward title selection, translation and introduction, and reading promotion rather than personal creative writing.