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She's a genius, genuinely modern in the heroic, glorious sense (Alain de Botton )
One of the most gifted writers of her generation (Scotsman )
One of the most gifted writers of her generation (Scotsman )
Product Description
"The First Person and Other Stories" effortlessly appeals to our hearts, heads and funny bones. Always intellectually playful, but also very moving and funny, Smith explores the ways and whys of storytelling. In one, a middle-aged woman conducts a poignant conversation with her gauche fourteen-year-old self. In another, an innocent supermarket shopper finds in her trolley a foul-mouthed, insulting and beautiful child. Challenging the boundaries between fiction and reality, a third presents its narrator, 'Ali', as she drinks tea, phones a friend and muses on the relationship between the short story and - a nymph. Innovative, sophisticated and intelligent, the stories in "The First Person and Other Stories" are packed full of ideas, jokes, nuance and compassion. Ali Smith and the short story are made for each other.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What place do stories have in the great bloated canon of literature? Some consider them as playful side-thoughts compared to the larger in-depth novels that authors produce. Others think of them as an author's most essential ideas pared down to the bare essentials, brief and perfect in their distillation. It probably depends on what author you are reading. This is a debate Ali Smith engages with in the opening story of her latest collection and, as a staunch defender of this literary form, the stories contained in this book are robust examples of how imaginative, important and powerful short stories can be.
In this book you'll find a story which describes the seductive reactionary thoughts contained within each of us in the form of a foul-mouthed abandoned baby. In `Writ' the author shows how alien we are in adult form to the child we used to be, suggesting that a constant dialogue is taking place between our present and former selves by explaining how her 14 year-old self has taken up residence in her home. There is a daring to Smith's writing which pushes the reader out of conventional ways of thinking and the comfortable, methodical way readers might ingest stories. Mythic tropes are invited to engage in the particulars of the present day. Particular people in particular places at particular times expand into what is universal. Paragraphs on the pages refuse to be justified and end on the right side of the page in jagged lines. Quotation marks are abandoned. Forms of narrative are teased and taunted to explore the meaning of points of view. Nameless voices banter back and forth in sensual, intimate, bodily play. Conclusions are written, abandoned, rewritten, erased, rewritten.
Yet these stories are not mere playful experiments with literary forms. They contain real heart. For readers who are familiar with Smith's work, they are probably the most confessional you'll find among her publications. When describing a friend who has cancer, an adulterous affair, a childhood crush on an art teacher, these stories feel immediate, emotional and true (regardless of whether they are autobiographical or not). Consequently, Smith shows in these stories that this literary form provides strategies for confronting what is most vital in our lives right now. Whether you finish reading a piece in this collection feeling touched to the bone or utterly perplexed, these stories make an impact larger than their "short" stature suggests.
In this book you'll find a story which describes the seductive reactionary thoughts contained within each of us in the form of a foul-mouthed abandoned baby. In `Writ' the author shows how alien we are in adult form to the child we used to be, suggesting that a constant dialogue is taking place between our present and former selves by explaining how her 14 year-old self has taken up residence in her home. There is a daring to Smith's writing which pushes the reader out of conventional ways of thinking and the comfortable, methodical way readers might ingest stories. Mythic tropes are invited to engage in the particulars of the present day. Particular people in particular places at particular times expand into what is universal. Paragraphs on the pages refuse to be justified and end on the right side of the page in jagged lines. Quotation marks are abandoned. Forms of narrative are teased and taunted to explore the meaning of points of view. Nameless voices banter back and forth in sensual, intimate, bodily play. Conclusions are written, abandoned, rewritten, erased, rewritten.
Yet these stories are not mere playful experiments with literary forms. They contain real heart. For readers who are familiar with Smith's work, they are probably the most confessional you'll find among her publications. When describing a friend who has cancer, an adulterous affair, a childhood crush on an art teacher, these stories feel immediate, emotional and true (regardless of whether they are autobiographical or not). Consequently, Smith shows in these stories that this literary form provides strategies for confronting what is most vital in our lives right now. Whether you finish reading a piece in this collection feeling touched to the bone or utterly perplexed, these stories make an impact larger than their "short" stature suggests.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
''True to oneself! Which self?'' Katherine Mansfield
Two of the epigraphs for Ali Smith's new collection of short stories underline her theme of the multiplicities of selves that we reveal to ourselves and others. In Writ the protagonist's fourteen year old self shows up and they chat. The fourteen year old is moody and spotty and greasy haired and the protaganist wonders about the things she could say that would help but doesn't - knowing that she will have to discover things - will have to invent herself.
In `astute fiery luxurious' a lover's story reveals another teenage self and her passion for an air rifle firing girl. She pursues her by befriending her sister and rushes through a primitive fortune telling game with her every Saturday until she can gaze on her object of desire. The story is good and revealing but the lover challenges this rehearsed version immediately, professing to prefer the sound of the sister who was willing to offer up three new possible self inventions every week. Smith play with the possibilties that new loves give for new starts, for self reinvention.
The stories, the titles and the pronouns - You and I figure heavily - play with the stories we tell ourselves and others throughout this collection. Ali Smith is a master at this type of witty writing and each of the stories works in its own right. As a collection I felt myself tiring by the end - wanting a bit more substance and development in some of the situations she has set up.
In the opening story `True Short Story' Smith lists what some famous short story writers have said about the form - of which here are three:
Alice Munro says that every short story is at least two short stories
Grace Paley said that she chose to write only short stories in her life because art is too long and life is too short, and that short stories are, by nature, about life, and that life itself is always found in dialogue and argument
Walter Benjamin said that short stories are stronger than the real lived moment because they can go on releasing the real, lived moment after the real, lived moment is dead.
`True Short Story' is at least two short stories. The lovers in these stories define themselves through dialogue and argument. At their best the stories in this excellent collection release a real lived moment - I wanted more of those.
Two of the epigraphs for Ali Smith's new collection of short stories underline her theme of the multiplicities of selves that we reveal to ourselves and others. In Writ the protagonist's fourteen year old self shows up and they chat. The fourteen year old is moody and spotty and greasy haired and the protaganist wonders about the things she could say that would help but doesn't - knowing that she will have to discover things - will have to invent herself.
In `astute fiery luxurious' a lover's story reveals another teenage self and her passion for an air rifle firing girl. She pursues her by befriending her sister and rushes through a primitive fortune telling game with her every Saturday until she can gaze on her object of desire. The story is good and revealing but the lover challenges this rehearsed version immediately, professing to prefer the sound of the sister who was willing to offer up three new possible self inventions every week. Smith play with the possibilties that new loves give for new starts, for self reinvention.
The stories, the titles and the pronouns - You and I figure heavily - play with the stories we tell ourselves and others throughout this collection. Ali Smith is a master at this type of witty writing and each of the stories works in its own right. As a collection I felt myself tiring by the end - wanting a bit more substance and development in some of the situations she has set up.
In the opening story `True Short Story' Smith lists what some famous short story writers have said about the form - of which here are three:
Alice Munro says that every short story is at least two short stories
Grace Paley said that she chose to write only short stories in her life because art is too long and life is too short, and that short stories are, by nature, about life, and that life itself is always found in dialogue and argument
Walter Benjamin said that short stories are stronger than the real lived moment because they can go on releasing the real, lived moment after the real, lived moment is dead.
`True Short Story' is at least two short stories. The lovers in these stories define themselves through dialogue and argument. At their best the stories in this excellent collection release a real lived moment - I wanted more of those.
Format:Hardcover
A fantastic gem! I want to own this book. I want to have these stories at hand whenever I feel down. Ali Smith is a real artist, capable of writing about every day life in a way that is captivating. She plays a lot with imagination and it can be slightly surreal at times, yet never untrustworthy. It's like swimming in somebody's stream of consciousness.
I love the story The Second Person best, when a couple tell each other what they are like, using metaphoric little stories within the story. Writ is another favourite where the narrator meets her 14-year old self.
As in previous story collections by Smith she often uses the second person to tell a story, addressing a you, and this is very clever as you are never quite sure if the characters are male or female or both female.
I love the story The Second Person best, when a couple tell each other what they are like, using metaphoric little stories within the story. Writ is another favourite where the narrator meets her 14-year old self.
As in previous story collections by Smith she often uses the second person to tell a story, addressing a you, and this is very clever as you are never quite sure if the characters are male or female or both female.
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