Scottish Ali Smith is too smart to drive easy propaganda. But no one who reads her books will doubt that she has a political agenda. She merges into novels where adventure narratives, artificial references, social criticism and linguistic exploration form a diverse and always challenging whole. Anti-Trump As I am on the verge of thinking that here you will be in excess of politically correct, where she criticizes screen use, electronic monitoring and unification rather than diversity, the book takes a dramatic turn. Smith is up against Aldous Huxley’s classic “Wonderful New World”. There, people live in an authoritarian society where they are divided into classes according to what kind of job they have. Human value is measured according to what work to do. Huxley’s novel came in 1932. It was a dystopia, a scare story about what society could look like, whose fascist powers got to spread. It is quite possible to read Smith’s novel as an anti-Trump novel. Ali Smith uses fiction to call out how dangerous our undemocratic currents actually are. Favorite writer: It is not without reason that many have Ali Smith as a favorite author. She combines lightness and weight with brilliance. Photo: Barbara Gindl / AFP / NTB writes Community Two children and a horse are the main characters in this fable. I come back to the horse. For a long time I thought I-narrator Briar was the big sister of Rose. But then Briar replies “yes”, when asked if she is a girl or boy. It doesn’t really surprise me: Also, gender diversity is a fight in Smith’s books. Not expressed explicitly, but sewn in as a natural part of a colorful world. And it is no coincidence that Briar in the beginning preferably we say instead of me. It’s about community and unity. In this regard, the book can lead the thoughts of Astrid Lindgren’s fantastic “Brothers Lionheart”, where Jonathan and Kavring must stand together against a powerful and evil power. Yes, Smith always writes in dialogue with good writers; Through the many nice conversations between the siblings, I see connection lines to Cormac McCarthy’s “Road”. The dystopian books of Margaret Atwood also constitute a thoughtful relationship. Dangerous way to go because we are in a non -defined future, in what may well be the UK. The circumstances have meant that the two siblings, who can be plus minus ten years old, are alone. There are many who are in this community, where the authorities use red paint to circle buildings or people they call unverifiable, and who must either be withdrawn, demolished or retrained. Everyone should enter the same system. Knowledge is not acquired through reading, since books and libraries barely exist, but through a so -called educator, an electronic thing on the wrist. The machine that dehets homes with the red lines is of course called an eliminator. Translator Merete Alfsen is, as always, the best translator Ali Smith could get: responsive, inventive, and never afraid to create Norwegian references or rhymes as independent equivalents into the English. The horse then it was the horse. It is the one called “Gliff”. It looks like a horse, smells like a horse, behaves like a horse. At the same time, it is something completely different. It is a picture of strength, on calm. And on freedom. Only through the name, which Ali Smith lets the children discuss in the text itself, does she show the horse’s wonderful features: Gliff means nothing special, but can, like a joker in a card game, contain the value you want to put into it yourself. The horse is thus a possibility. And a hope. And here we have Ali Smith in a nutshell: she gives words meaning far beyond the traditional, one -dimensional. She searches for double importances and etymological contexts. Anyone who has already associated with the word hieroglyf, the letters of the ancient written language the Egyptians used, are at the very wavelength of the author. She is looking for connections and kinship in the language, as she does in life. Here, as so often before, young people are wise, while those who have lived for a while, either have walked the doll or have been prisoned in the system. It’s about curiosity. And about a youthful, burning heart. Black, white or gray A weakness of Smith’s commitment is that she can tip over in being firmly: the system and those behind is consistent evil. The young people, on the other hand, have both good and evil. They are alive. But it is also Smith’s literature in a broad sense. Live and playful. “Gliff” is a book about resistance and therefore needs a defined enemy. The novel strengthens humanistic values at a time when real politics and short -term embrace of technology pose a serious threat. It’s probably the darkest book she has written in a long time. But Ali Smith wouldn’t have been Ali Smith if she didn’t open up to hope. There is! “Gliff” is there! About the book Title: “Gliff” Author: Ali Smith Forlag: October Date: May 7, 2025 Page number: 248 Hi! Hi! Hi! I am a literary critic in news and review books for both children and adults. Published 07.05.2025, at. 00.00
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