Maria Feijoo writes.
BIOGRAPHY
Ali Smith is a contemporary Scottish author known for her experimental and internationally award-winning novels, short story collections, and plays.
During her time at Cambridge, she began writing plays and, as a result, did not complete her doctorate. Some sources also refer that she had to leave the university because she was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and could not pursue her academic career.
After some time working in Scotland, she returned to Cambridge to concentrate on her writing, focusing on short stories and freelancing as a fiction reviewer. In 1995, she published her first book, Free Love and Other Stories, and won her first award.
By now, she has published twelve novels and six short story collections. Her fiction though being defined as experimental; it has an easy, pleasant, and moving style. She also writes for The Guardian, The Scotsman and The Times Library Supplement.
She now lives in Cambridge with her partner, the filmmaker Sarah Wood. They both participated in 2022 in a series of debates held in the CCCB in Barcelona, around Orwell and the Language of politics.
Ali Smith is a contemporary Scottish author known for her experimental and internationally award-winning novels, short story collections, and plays.
During her time at Cambridge, she began writing plays and, as a result, did not complete her doctorate. Some sources also refer that she had to leave the university because she was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and could not pursue her academic career.
After some time working in Scotland, she returned to Cambridge to concentrate on her writing, focusing on short stories and freelancing as a fiction reviewer. In 1995, she published her first book, Free Love and Other Stories, and won her first award.
By now, she has published twelve novels and six short story collections. Her fiction though being defined as experimental; it has an easy, pleasant, and moving style. She also writes for The Guardian, The Scotsman and The Times Library Supplement.
She now lives in Cambridge with her partner, the filmmaker Sarah Wood. They both participated in 2022 in a series of debates held in the CCCB in Barcelona, around Orwell and the Language of politics.
SUMMARY
In this short story, the narrator firstly seems to hesitate on what story to tell and discard some clichés before fixing the narration around a second-hand bookshop in an isolated rural village. The bookseller is a woman, living by herself in the first floor, and downstairs, the shop is a sort of cemetery of old books, usually empty.
The reader will not know much about the woman because the writer then fixes her attention on a fly, which she describes in detail, almost like an entomologist.
As the fly lies on the corner of the Penguin 1974 Edition of The Great Gatsby, the writer bounces into the story again to change the point of view, and focuses on the book itself, in his singularity, just as if it was a human being: its birth, the context of its birth, and its story. This book certainly had a very rich story, belonging successively to the most diverse owners, who bought it for as many diverse reasons, until it ended up in the window of a second-hand bookshop. The story takes place here, in a time after 1997, and in a moment when a fly rests on its cover to enjoy the sun, but flies away when a man enters the second-hand shop.
Again, the writer modifies his focus and now concentrates on this man and his sister. There is a hilarious scene with the bookseller, as the man wants to buy as many copies of The Great Gatsby as possible. The bookseller, who feels tired of receiving “another Great Gatsby” in her shop, is happy to sell five books, moreover five copies of this book.
The story ends knitting all the threads: the boat sinks, Dante’s Divine Comedy replaces Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, the bookseller decides to remove the dust of all the books, and the narrator closes with the initial “men dwelt by a churchyard” who supposedly lived for long and then died.
In this short story, the narrator firstly seems to hesitate on what story to tell and discard some clichés before fixing the narration around a second-hand bookshop in an isolated rural village. The bookseller is a woman, living by herself in the first floor, and downstairs, the shop is a sort of cemetery of old books, usually empty.
The reader will not know much about the woman because the writer then fixes her attention on a fly, which she describes in detail, almost like an entomologist.
As the fly lies on the corner of the Penguin 1974 Edition of The Great Gatsby, the writer bounces into the story again to change the point of view, and focuses on the book itself, in his singularity, just as if it was a human being: its birth, the context of its birth, and its story. This book certainly had a very rich story, belonging successively to the most diverse owners, who bought it for as many diverse reasons, until it ended up in the window of a second-hand bookshop. The story takes place here, in a time after 1997, and in a moment when a fly rests on its cover to enjoy the sun, but flies away when a man enters the second-hand shop.
Again, the writer modifies his focus and now concentrates on this man and his sister. There is a hilarious scene with the bookseller, as the man wants to buy as many copies of The Great Gatsby as possible. The bookseller, who feels tired of receiving “another Great Gatsby” in her shop, is happy to sell five books, moreover five copies of this book.
The story ends knitting all the threads: the boat sinks, Dante’s Divine Comedy replaces Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, the bookseller decides to remove the dust of all the books, and the narrator closes with the initial “men dwelt by a churchyard” who supposedly lived for long and then died.
OPINION
This short-story is puzzling and leaves the reader
with more questions than answers.
We may wonder which is the universal story of the title: The Divine Comedy? The Great Gatsby? The life and death of books, flies, boats, and men? The story written by Ali Smith, as it contains all these stories?
Is it even a story? As the writer breaks all the rules of narration and address commentaries directly to the reader, the reader seems committed to participate in the elaboration of the “story.” Thus, may the universal story be the fiction itself and how it works?
We may wonder which is the universal story of the title: The Divine Comedy? The Great Gatsby? The life and death of books, flies, boats, and men? The story written by Ali Smith, as it contains all these stories?
Is it even a story? As the writer breaks all the rules of narration and address commentaries directly to the reader, the reader seems committed to participate in the elaboration of the “story.” Thus, may the universal story be the fiction itself and how it works?
QUESTIONS
-What can you tell us about The Great Gatsby and Tender Is The Night?
-Do you by second hand-books? What interesting books did you find?
-Have you seen the film Definitely, Maybe? Do have an especial collection of books?
VOCABULARY
riffled, bleached, bypass, veering, bask, stout, cleg, midge, wad, maggot, spell, pupa, eave, slitted, fly,-swat, snuff out, dapper, smuggled, starred first, fiver, grant, beat on, daffodils, unravelled