Introduction: the narrative ethics of Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet

Abstract

The editors Agnes Andeweg and Jesse van Amelsvoort introduce the special issue on The Narrative Ethics of Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet. They briefly contextualise Smith’s four novels —Autumn (2016), Winter (2017), Spring (2019), and Summer (2020)—and its reception, and outline how this special issue originated at the MLA International Symposium which was themed Being Hospitable: Languages and Cultures Across Borders (Glasgow, 2022). They introduce the contributions, which are bookended by two interviews with Ali Smith conducted by email in October 2023 and in person in June 2022. Andeweg and Van Amelsvoort argue that rather than a prescriptive or universal norm, hospitality in the Seasonal Quartet results from attention and appreciation in specific situations, as an aesthetic practice.