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Acknowledgments 332

A post-Brexit novel that examines current British society.

Every morning she wakes up feeling like she's been tricked somehow.
This leads me to wonder how many people across the country would wake up feeling cheated, regardless of which side they voted for. (Page 256)

The setting of "Autumn" is around the time of the 2016 Brexit (Britain's withdrawal from the European Union) referendum.
British society was left in turmoil, with public opinion narrowly divided, with 51.9% in favor of leaving and 48.1% opposed.
The ongoing Brexit debate is fully reflected in this novel.
Daniel's comparison of the mid-20th century, under the cultural blessings of the time, with the present day in the 2010s is faithful to the novel's role as a reflection of the times, but it is not a grand historical novel.
The neighborhood scenes that Elizabeth, in her thirties, passes by, and the images of residents waiting at government offices surround the characters like a background, vividly conveying the current atmosphere of Britain.
In particular, the scene where Elizabeth waits endlessly in line at the post office to apply for a new passport, or talks to a postal worker and gets rejected because her head size doesn't meet the standard, is a famous scene that accurately points out the bureaucratic nature of this society.


It's incredibly easy to customize and print your invoice.
It's the same with pretending to be someone else.
Elizabeth says.
What about those who commit fraud? How can having your name on a printed piece of paper be considered proof of your identity? (Page 138)

In particular, discussions about Elizabeth's 'identification' appear throughout the novel. The scene where she goes to the hospital for urgent treatment but has only a university faculty/staff ID card with little time left for proof of identity brings to mind the issue of the Higher Education Act, which is currently experiencing severe pain in Korea.
The treatment of part-time lecturers, who may lose their jobs at any time due to university restructuring, and the tyranny of the system that operates regardless of this are worth noting.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth's mother, Wendy, appears throughout the work as a character who causes conflict with her daughter, Elizabeth.
Wendy doesn't understand her daughter's friendship with an older gay man, and she is indifferent to her daughter's art studies, which causes constant friction between them.
In short, he is a person who conforms to the existing society and does not feel any problems about the present.
However, in the latter half of the film, Wendy becomes a regular guest on a British TV program similar to Korea's "TV Show Real Luxury," and is transformed into someone with extensive knowledge of lost and forgotten British antiques.
Embracing Elizabeth's unfamiliar past and the newfound homosexual relationship with Joey that the show has forged, Wendy is cast in a new light as a human being who holds onto traditional values ​​while also being capable of change.
Through concise scene descriptions and dialogues, Ali Smith has created a single, unadorned work that depicts the various characters of a country that is incredibly chaotic, embracing political, social, and cultural diversity, slowly circulating along with the seasonal keyword of "autumn."

The value of a neighbor who embraces others

When Elizabeth was a child, she tried to visit the house of her neighbor, Daniel Gluck, to do her homework of 'interviewing a neighbor', but her mother forbade her from approaching him, saying that Daniel was rumored to be an old homo.
But eventually, Elizabeth becomes friends with Daniel, and Daniel helps her grow into a humanistically literate person by awakening the most important values ​​in her teenage life.

But everyday life outside the story is not so easy.
People constantly draw lines between the British, the Scottish, the European, and the non-European, trying to distinguish between 'me' and 'others'.
European society is already suffering greatly from the refugee problem.
The discovery of the body of a three-year-old child on a Turkish beach has become a global issue.
The author inserted a scene that brings that scene to mind from the beginning of the work, which is a symbolic act that tells the readers what story he wants to tell next.

He looks at the bodies that are scattered on the shore, washed up by the tide.
There are also very small children's things.
He squats down next to the bloated corpse of a man.
Inside the man's zippered shirt, a child, or rather a baby, is leaking seawater with its mouth open.
He is dead, his head on the man's swollen chest. (Page 25)

Type hatred is not something that started yesterday or today. It is a problem that has been entrenched in a changing world, but now it is bursting out of the water.
The issue of refugee inclusion is not only a problem in Europe; as seen in the Yemeni refugee crisis in Jeju, Korea is also at a stage where it needs to begin a full-scale social discussion.
At this time, Ali Smith points out the current state of society with an elegant and sharp attitude about what literature can convey.

All over the country, people felt that they had done the right thing and others had done the wrong thing.
People all over the country were searching on Google for “what is the European Union”.
People across the country were searching Google for “migrate to Scotland.”
People from all over the country were searching Google for “Irish passport application.”
All over the country, people were calling each other sluts.
People all over the country felt unsafe (pp. 78-79)

The question of whether we can accept older homosexuals as neighbors expands to the question of whether one nation can accept another nation as neighbors.
In the novel, Elizabeth grows into a profound person who ponders right and wrong thanks to Daniel, and Daniel, too, rather than facing a miserable old age as a social minority, is able to maintain his human dignity and live out his life alongside people who recognize the value of his achievements thanks to the help of someone close to him, Elizabeth.
In this novel, Allie Smith argues that the experience of being a neighbor is special, that it is a service to the world, and that time will repeat its eternal cycle even if humans hate each other and build fences.
When her mother asked, “Why him of all people?” young Elizabeth replied, “Because he’s our neighbor.” This line is probably the most famous line in the entire novel.

The importance of unchanging creation

Daniel helps teenage Elizabeth discover a variety of humanistic sensibilities through questions and answers.
Daniel was a composer and a man who interacted with various artists and intellectuals in a time when “the world was more exciting than it is now.”
The only woman he ever loved in the world was the real-life British pop artist Pauline Boty, and the author skillfully blends the artist's real story with the fictional story of Daniel.
Pauline Boty, who led a dazzling career at a time when women were not recognized, but died young, and Elizabeth, who discovered a catalog of her work in a used bookstore and chose it as the topic of her doctoral dissertation despite the opposition of her disparaging professor, suddenly realize that even in an indifferent world, there are people with sparkling creativity and those who recognize them.
Daniel's answer to young Elizabeth's question about the meaning of creating a fictional world can be said to be the author's firm belief in the value of the act of a novelist creating a story.

Creating the world is meaningless.
Elizabeth said.
Because the real world already exists.
There is just a world, and there is a truth about the world.
So what you're saying is that there is truth and there is a fake version of it, and we live by the fake version.
Daniel said.
No, the world is real.
Stories are made.
Elizabeth said.
But that doesn't make it any less true.
Daniel said.
That's absolute bullshit.
Elizabeth said.
And it is said that those who create stories are the ones who create the world.
Daniel said.
So always try to welcome people into the house of your story.
That's my suggestion. (Pages 157-158)