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Ethics and Aesthetics in Ali Smith’s Fiction (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Literature)
Author(s): José I. Prieto-Arranz (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: July 28, 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 286 pages
- ISBN-10: 1041045689
- ISBN-13: 978-1041045687
Book Description
This study offers a fresh perspective on Ali Smith’s work, analysing her fiction through a truly interdisciplinary lens. José I. Prieto-Arranz explores Smith’s engagement with contemporary issues such as digital violence, disinformation, pornography, nationalism, climate change, discrimination, and social fracture. Simultaneously, this book examines Smith’s unique stylistic choices, including her use of magical realism, intertextuality, and intermediality, to reveal the intricate connection between the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of her novels. Through close readings of Smith’s novels, from Like to Companion Piece, enriched with insights from her prolific short fiction, the author demonstrates how Smith constructs a “text continuum,” revealing recurrent themes and stylistic choices that underline her firm belief in the transformative power of fiction and, by extension, art. This book will appeal to scholars of contemporary literature, art theory, political science, sociology and cultural studies, and anyone interested in literature and social commentary.
Chapter 9 and 10 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This study offers an exceptionally engaging and informative guide to the literary and ethical value of Ali Smith’s fiction. This is the book that at last brings to the fore Smith’s constant use of literary and artistic forms to convey her central aim of intervening in current culture and politics.
– Susana Onega, Emeritus Professor, University of Zaragoza, Academia Europæa
José Igor Prieto-Arranz offers a valuable and detailed overview of the multiple modes of solidarity–between individuals, cultures, environments, and forms of art–that are brought about in Ali Smith’s works.
– Merja Polvinen, Senior Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Finland
About the Author
José I. Prieto-Arranz is Associate Professor of English at the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. He has conducted research at the intersection of applied linguistics, semiotics, sociology, and cultural studies. His work has examined the construction and expression of national identity in cultural phenomena and products like language acquisition, translation, tourism promotion and advertising, popular music, television, film, and, more recently, literature. Focusing on how literature addresses contemporary nationalism and social fragmentation, he has pioneered the study of neo-historical fiction, including authors like Hilary Mantel and CJ Sansom. His book Ethics and Aesthetics in Ali Smith’s Fiction provides the first holistic study of Smith’s oeuvre.
