Ali Smith's Parasitic Poetics

This essay examines the figure of the parasite in Ali Smith's fiction. Drawing on literary, political, and biological theorizations of the concept, I analyze the interaction between the parasite as narrative function and parasitism as social construction in "The Hanging Girl," Hotel World, The Accidental, There But For The, Winter, and Spring. By examining the evolving role of this figure, I outline the gradual shift in Smith's poetics toward an ironic allegorical mode. In her recent novels, Smith uses cohabitation tropes to connect political satire with ecological paradigms, and targets failed mutualism as the ethical shortcoming of contemporary Britain.