Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet begins with Autumn and will continue chronologically through the seasons: winter, spring, then summer. However, the calendar year does not begin with autumn, but late winter or early spring— depending on your perspective. So, why does Ali Smith start her seasonal quartet with autumn?
To approach this question, autumn must be defined using classifiers which parallel how Smith dates within her work. Most sections begin with an almost standardized system of dating in the form “it was [insert month, season, the day of the week]” to stage a memory or “it is [insert month, season, the day of the week]” to clarify when is present. To define autumn as itself is counterintuitive, and no season is annually this weekday to that weekday, so the constant will be months. The exact dates for this upcoming year’s autumn are the 23rd fo September through the 21st of December. I will simplify this definition— as the exact dates change slightly from year to year, and Smith avoids exact dates— to autumn is all of September through the end of November.
The secondary plotlines regarding past events are not confined to autumn. For example, one memory might reflect an event in October of 1995 and occur within the parameters of autumn (67). However, the next might reflect “Spring of 2004” (223). Because these memories share no common connection through autumn, this discussion will focus on the present plotline.
A majority of the present plot also does not occur in autumn but leads into autumn. The first chapter in the present occurs on “a Wednesday, just past midsummer” (15). Why begin a book entitled Autumn in midsummer? By beginning here, Smith suggests that this date marks the beginning of where autumn occurs in the novel. That same day or soon after, the present reflects that “it is just over a week since the vote” (53). “The vote” is the Brexit vote, which occurred on the 23rd of June 2016. This event suggests that the present is late June or early July, and the plot opens before the season autumn.
The present, unlike the memories, is presented linearly, such that July goes into August, etc. With this, a majority of the novel’s present exists in mid to late summer. Not until roughly two-thirds through the book does the present fit the parameters of autumn. The narrator reflects, “October’s a blink of the eye” as the plot skips over the month’s events (177). Similarly, She skips August and September altogether — if I remember correctly there is one chapter within this timeframe, except I cannot seem to find it now— suggesting they too are "a blink of the eye" (103; 177). Her choice to ignore the late summer and early autumn months suggest that they are uneventful. However, why would Smith skip most of the months in her title's season?
Just before it is definitively November, one of the sections in the present begins: “it is yet another day, weather, time, news, stuff happening all across the country/countries, etc.” (253). The catalog presents common means to denote a temporal setting but presents each as generalities. It is not this specific day, but “another day,” which does not bring specific news like another vote, but “news.” Specifying the present in generalized catalog suggests the mundanity of the current events as if the events occurring are not significant longterm. Therefore, there is no need to use specifics. This chapter is however between October and November and occurs in autumn.
Similarly, the first mention of the present autumn does not specify how far the present is from the season. The chapter begins: “Now that actual autumn isn’t far off” (195). The standardized beginning utilizes the present tense but alters its form to reflect the negative. This chapter describes its temporal present by what it is not; It is not autumn. Furthermore, the use of “now” offers a sense of impermanence, such that “now” is not autumn, but soon it will be. Furthermore, the distinction of “actual autumn” suggests that another metaphoric autumn has been occurring long before this “actual autumn” approached. Actual autumn refers to the months of September through November. What is this alternative, metaphoric autumn?
How else can autumn be defined? Autumn, as much as it is these months, is also the harvest. Autumn symbolizes change and preservation. As the weather cools, what was planted earlier in the year are picked, and preserved for winter. By this definition, autumn is the consequence of the past, such that if you do not plant in the spring, you can’t pick in autumn. Returning to the beginning of the novel—to the vote— is Brexit the planting or the harvest? I tend to think it is the harvest considering the immediate consequences, including the double-lined fences, racism, and difficulty in renewing a passport. Furthermore, the Brexit vote is the only definitive date referenced in the present plot and where the plot begins. In a novel titled Autumn, shouldn’t it begin at the beginning of the season? Is the vote what marks the beginning of the metaphoric autumn, far before “actual autumn?”
Many reviews deem this novel one of the first “post-Brexit novels,” but what does that mean and what does the season autumn have to do with post-Brexit Britain? This classification seems to reflect Smith’s willingness to address everyday life after the vote, specifically focusing on how the gradual impact on everyday life. However, the novel does not explicitly dread or drone Brexit, other than to reference that the present occurs after the vote. As the title suggests, the novel reflects the changes consequence of the vote: like autumn changes the color of leaves before they fall, the vote changes how individuals interact with "a new kind of detachment" (54).
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