Artful is a 2012 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith and published by Hamish Hamilton. It was shortlisted for the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013.[1]
.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Ali Smith |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
| ISBN | 9780241145401 |
Plot
editThis book is based on four lectures given by Ali Smith at Oxford University, the Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature.[2] The four headings are: "On Time", "On Form", "On Edge", and "On Offer and On Reflection".
It has two fictional characters. One is a woman mourning her dead lover and the other is her dead lover who still seems to be present. She speaks to the mourning woman in Greek, steals belongings, and causes a nuisance. The dead woman was working on some lectures when she died, and the living one works with trees.
The English author and critic Julie Myerson wrote in the Guardian that "if this book has a central subject, it's the relationship between thought and art".
Smith explores different artists throughout the book including the surrealists, William Shakespeare, and Jackie Kay.[3]
Reception
editUpon release, Artful was generally well-received. Culture Critic gave it an aggregated critic score of 98 percent based on British and American press reviews.[4] On Bookmarks May/June 2013 issue, reported on reviews from several publications with ratings for the novel out of five: San Francisco Chronicle gave it a five, NY Times Book Review and New York Times gave it a four, and AV Club gave it a three with a critical summary saying, "Real art will hold us at all our different ages like it held all the people before us and will hold all the people after us, in an elasticity and with a generosity that allow for all our comings and goings," Smith writes in an attempt at articulating why great art hits us in just the right way, a goal that she mostly meets".[5]
The Independent called the novel "smart, allusive, informal, playful, and audacious".[6]
Julie Myerson in The Guardian said the novel is "a seductive and compelling case for the power of imagination. Or – to go back to Dickens – a gorgeous and artfully dodging work of "shifting possibility". Or, in the words of Katherine Mansfield who, on finishing DH Lawrence's Aaron's Rod, compared it to a tree "firmly planted, deep thrusting, outspread, growing grandly, alive in every twig. All the time I read this book I felt it was feeding me." Back to trees, then, a perfect leitmotif for the unstoppable nourishment of literature. And there is food and substance in this wonderful, deeply original book."[3]
Leah Hager Cohen in The New York Times said "A wordsmith to the very smithy of her soul, she is at once deeply playful and deeply serious. And her new book, in which she tugs at God’s sleeve, ruminates on clowns, shoplifts used books, dabbles in Greek and palavers with the dead, is a stunner."[7]
References
edit- ^ "The Goldsmiths Prize 2013". Goldsmiths. 2013-10-05. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- ^ Cohen, Leah Hager (2013-02-01). "A Light to Read By". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- ^ a b Myerson, Julie (2012-11-18). "Artful by Ali Smith – review". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- ^ "Ali Smith - Artful". Culture Critic. Archived from the original on 23 Jan 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- ^ "Artful". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "Artful, By Ali Smith". The Independent. 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- ^ Cohen, Leah Hager (2013-02-01). "A Light to Read By". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-02-26.