Ali Smith, The Accidental

Ulrike Tancke (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2005

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)
United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Ali Smith’s third novel, The Accidental, was published in 2005 to great critical acclaim: it won the Whitbread Novel Award 2005 and was shortlisted in the same year for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction; critics and reviewers lauded its stylistic unconventionality and skilful portrayal of the characters’ consciousness.

The novel presents the reader with a mysterious scenario: alternating between the points of view of its four main characters, it tells the story of the Smart family – Michael, a university lecturer in English Literature, his wife Eve, a writer, and Eve’s children from a previous marriage, twelve year-old Astrid and fifteen year-old Magnus – whose summer holiday in Norfolk i…

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1364 words

Citation: Tancke, Ulrike. "The Accidental". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 April 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23033, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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