FINAL JM - ACSUS-Cultures of Populism - 7 John Masterson - Pre-Final MAW Copyedit (2).pdf (376.11 kB)
“Don’t tell me this isn’t relevant all over again in its brand new same old way”: imagination, agitation, and raging against the machine in Ali Smith’s Spring
This paper explores the third novel in Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet, Spring. Using Achille Mbembe’s Necropolitics as a conceptual frame, I analyze Smith’s rendering of a Britain grappling with Brexit in times of transnational populism. As with Autumn and Winter, Smith’s prose is saturated with intertextual borrowings from pop and “high” culture, also interrogating the links between “nanoracism” and the “immunity and community” knot (Dillet). This paper reads Spring alongside Smith’s contribution to and advocacy of the Refugee Tales project regarding the diverse discourses surrounding migration, xenophobia, and indefinite detention. Smith’s writing traces the darkness of our populist present with its rhetorical and material violence, as well as the possibilities for creative response and resistance. I argue that her seasonal quartet to date and her work with Refugee Tales aesthetically and ethically defend the principle that human dignity, both individual and collective, rests on the ability to tell stories.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
SafundiISSN
1753-3171Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
21Page range
355-372Department affiliated with
- English Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2020-06-08First Open Access (FOA) Date
2022-01-30First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2020-06-09Usage metrics
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