CAMERA SHY
Booker-nominated author ALI SMITH talks to Brian Donaldson about humility, the power of images and the implosion of family life explored in her new novel.
hen Ali Smith worked as an usher in a
tiny. seedy. one-screen (‘ambridge
cinema. her duties occasionally veered from the job description to include selling wafers and helping the infirm to their seats. An old lady once came tip to her and said: ‘(‘ould you stop the people behind me having sex‘.’ I‘m trying to see the lilm.’ And so with tile. as in an. In the lnverness-born writer‘s new novel The Accidental. a fleeting sexual encounter in a cinema cafe while a screening of Poor ('ow booms in the next room kicks everything off. At the point when Terence Stamp‘s abusive thiel~ is arrested. our key character is conceived. The opening to the book ends with a declaration of the inherited ethos of Alhambra (named alter the site of this less than immaculate conception) with which she will later turn upside down the life of an unsuspecting. vulnerable l’amily: ‘lii‘oin my mother: grace under pressure: the uses oi mystery; how to get what I want. From my father: how to disappear: how not to exist.‘
As a beginning. it's a stirring evocation of place (an old—fashioned picture house) and time (1968). It is also a further demonstration of the writing skills that earned Ali Smith rave reviews across the board and a place on the 200] shortlists for the Booker and ()range pt’ilCS for her last novel. Hotel Wor/(l. ()h. and a prestigious spot in The List‘s guide to the [00 Best Scottish Books ofAll Time. But such pomp is mere circumstance to the real reason she‘s in this business. ‘Books aren‘t about prizes and prizes certainly aren’t about books.‘ she tells me in a small French cafe in her adopted home of Cambridge. ‘Everyone thinks that I've got a Lamborghini and that I should be living in a flat with gold walls because I was on the Booker shortlist. It made enough money so that I could write my next book. but it was a nightmare with all that attention. I'm quite shy. There‘s this thing about how we perceive our culture and that our artists have to be somehow personalities and have to be on Big Brother. It doesn’t help writers at all to be visible. A book should just go out there quietly and if people like it. it does itsjob.’
Ali Smith has been going around quietly doing her job since the early ‘)()s. It was then that she moved from Glasgow to return to the place that loves its bikes (there are thousands of them parked outside the train station) and where she had previously failed to complete a post-grad in English and American literature. 'I got in trouble
gbecause you weren‘t meant to mix your poets and novelists.‘ she says. When students come to __; study the work of Smith. they‘ll have a mix of short stories and novels to choose from. I’ree Love. Other Stories and Other Stories and The 5 Whole Story and Other Stories (the books of
18 THE LIST 26 May—9 Jun 200:3
short stories) and Like. Hotel ll'or/(l and The
Accidental (the novels) tnakc tip a pretty strong
body of work in anybodys language.
Smith‘s method is to tell her tales l'rom varying points of view. In lllt' siren/enrol. each chapter is devoted to one voice. There‘s Amber (nee Alhambra). the (i()s child whose wandering spirit dril‘ts into the lives ol‘ a classically dy'sl'unctional family (the Smarts) in their idyllic holiday home until they are stripped psychologically and physically to the bone. lel‘t without even any doorknobs. We hear from the tainted ol'l'spring: the impressionable Astrid whose hobby revolves around cameras. taking an inordinate interest in photographing dawns: meanwhile Magnus has his libido stirred by Amber but is tormented by his part in the suicide oi a l'ellow pupil. Then there are the parents: Michael. a lecturer intrigued and terrilied by cliche. but who lives
‘EVERYONE
THINKS I'VE GOT A LAMBORGHINI AND I LIVE IN A FLAT WITH GOLD WALLS BECAUSE I WAS ON THE BOOKER SHORTLIST'
his me very much like one. under investigation for dalliances with students; and live. who attempts to hold the handy together while she is slowly collapsing inside.
‘l'd like to sit down and write one ol’ those Deal/t i/I \i'ltit't’ books where you trust the one voice or you don‘t trust that voice. I ~itist think that with stories. nothing is ever singular and that to find otit what a story is. you have to have at least two positions on it. It‘s probably some weird kind ol' psychosis on my part. but I don‘t really want to pin it down. It" I had an answer to it. then all I would think about was that answer and I wouldn‘t be able to do it again.~
(‘oming up with dcl‘initive answers is lot tyrants. Smith‘s approach to analysing her work is to share opinions with her readers rather than telling its what we should be thinking. When I ask her about any conclusions to be tnade about separate incidents in lllt’ Arch/enrol or ol‘ the novel as a whole. she steers them back to me. To those questions she will say with genuine interest: ‘What do you think'." or ‘You tell me‘ or ‘lt was tncant to be lunny as well: did you think it was funny.” or ‘I don‘t know il’ it's optimistic or pessimistic: what did you think'." This wasn't to test whether I had read the books (she reveals
that she's had lots ol‘ questions about page 1‘). concluding that some interviewers hadn’t got much lurthcr) but feels like she is trying to make the process between reader and writer more democratic. handing power back to the reader.
This is l'airly typical ol‘ Smith. who is giving quite a lot back to the literary community. Alter we spoke. she headed oil to Kidbrooke Comprehensive. the south—east London school where .lamie ()liver attempted to introduce healthy dinners. to see a production of a play she has written. She has recently ploughed through a seven-loot high tower oi unsolicited manuscripts l'or her co-editing duties with Toby l.itt on l’icador’s New ll'ri/iiig: .\'o /.i’ publication and she has gratel'ully accepted an ol'l'er to become a trustee of the inaugural Man Booker International l’ri/e. dtte to be presented in lidinburgh at the end of June. 'lt reminds me of when the liurovision Song ('ontest was there and the New Seekers single had a picture of [Edinburgh (‘astle on it.'
And when the bookish beanl'east moseys into town. the world‘s cameras will be pointed firmly in lidinburgh‘s direction. This is a subject close to Ali Smith and The .Ilt'ci'tlentu/‘s heart. Smith’s partner is a lilmmaker and photographer and in the novel. the destruction of Astrid‘s expensive camera is the lirst moment when she realises that Amber may not be the role model she lirst believed her to be. And Magnus’ tile is thrown into abject turmoil due to the wonders ol' l’hotoshop. desecrating a person's image to the point that they are driven to destroy themselves. Smith pttts this story in the context of the power ol cinema and the nightmare that was the casual pictorial documentation of [S torture on Iraqis in Abu (ihraibjail.
When I recall a statistic that the average metropolitan dweller is caught on camera I l()() times a day. Smith is astonished. bttt quickly realises that this lits well with her own notion of our image-laden society. ‘lt’s said that people living now have more inl‘ormation in hall. a day than most people had 2()() years ago in their whole life. We have to take on board so much that our lilters must be blocked. The inl'ormation that we get is ol'ten unnecessary and erroneous or. sometimes. uset‘ul; how do we choose'.’ Kurt Vonnegut said that in the 30th century we imagined that (iod was capturing ottr every move on camera. When are we most real: is it when we are on reality TV." I suspect that Ali Smith won’t be testing that theory out in a httrry.
The Accidental is published by Hamish Hamilton on Thu 26 May. Thanks to GNER for travel. For tickets and information call 08457 225 225 or www.gner.co.uk.