Autumn (Ali Smith, 2016)

This book has been much discussed in recent years. It is the first of a quartet (or quadrilogy as some Americans might say) of books named after each season, much like Antonio Vivaldi‘s 1725 masterpiece. It has been hailed as the first “post-Brexit” novel, and the series is considered innovative because the books are written and published very quickly and in step with the zeitgeist and current developments. They were in bookstores just six weeks after being finished, instead of the usual 18 months that publishers normally take before launching a book. This must be a factor in these books being so popular.

The conceit of four books focusing on each season had been an idea Ali Smith had had for 20 years, and reading Autumn made me think of books based on similar ideas. There is nature writer Edwin Teale Way‘s “the American Seasons” (1951-65), and the Hunter Diary of Ivan Turgenev (1852). Norwegian wunderkind K.O. Knausgard wrote a series of books named for the seasons in Norwegian 2015-16, but they are not more than glorified diaries, really. Smith invents characters and plots and does things with her writing.

Autumn centers on the friendship of a 101 year old musician, Daniel Gluck and his 30-year old ex-neighbor and art historian Elisabeth Demand. Through the character of Demand, Smith revives the story of Pauline Boty, a the half-forgotten figure in the London Pop Art scene, who tragically died young and whose legacy was somehow swept under the rug. Another story Smith weaves into this book is that of Christine Keeler, a woman involved in the so-called Profumo affair in the early 60s, where it was revealed that a group of politicians had visited prostitutes.

The writing style is quite unusual, with a lot of jumps and witticisms of varying success. I get the impression that Ali Smith allows a lot of herself and her opinions to come out in the characters. Numerous are the comments on contemporary mores, art history, feminism and love. Some of the exchanges feel a bit too constructed. In the final analysis, this is not really something I particularly liked, but now I know what one of the more celebrated recent author’s writing is like. I remember when I first saw her name years ago, I thought it was a muslim writer, because of the way she has chosen to spell her first name.