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Artful

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( 3,827 ratings, 529 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Artful by Ali Smith is a unique blend of fiction and essay that explores the intersection of art and life. The narrative is framed around a sorrowful narrator who finds solace in the written lectures of a deceased partner, delving into themes of time, memory, and creativity. This inventive work invites readers into a world where art and story weave together, offering engaging reflections on the ways we perceive and are shaped by art.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're captivated by the intersection of storytelling and critical analysis, as it creatively weaves together fictional narrative and thought-provoking essays on literature and art. This engaging exploration of themes like loss, love, and creativity offers a unique and insightful reading experience.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Explores form, style, life, love, death, mortality, immortality and what art and writing can mean. Part fiction, part essay, this book is a revelation of what writing can do.

Both heartfelt fiction concerning a character haunted by a dead lover, and dazzling essay on literature and art, Artful is Ali Smith's extraordinary exploration of life, love and writing.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A brilliantly innovative novel which is also a series of lectures on art, literature and life.

Originally four lectures given by Ali Smith at Oxford University, Artful is a tidal wave of ideas in four thematically organised bursts of thought: 'On Time', 'On Form', 'On Edge' and 'On Offer and On Reflection'.

Refusing to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted—literally—by a former lover, the writer of a series of lectures about art and literature. Full of both the poignancy and humour of fiction and all the sideways insights and jaunty angles you would expect from Ali Smith's criticism, it explores form, style, life, love, death, mortality, immortality, and what art and writing can mean.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241959572

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 October 2013

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 211g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of Free Love and Other Stories, Like, Other Stories and Other Stories, Hotel World, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The Accidental, Girl Meets Boy, The First Person and Other Stories, There but for the, Artful, How to be both, and Public library and other stories. Hotel World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize and The Accidental was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Orange Prize. How to be both won the Baileys Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Folio Prize. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge and her next novel is forthcoming in 2016.

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