Fragments of Belongingness: Migrant Experiences in Ali Smith's Spring

破碎的歸屬感：阿里．史密斯《春》中的移民經驗

En-Hui Shih(施恩惠)

《Tamkang Review》 Volume 55 Issue 1 (2024/12) Pp. 59-84

https://doi.org/10.6184/TKR.202412_55(1).0003

Abstracts

Spring is the third installment of Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet, which, like the other three installments, explores social issues in the UK following the Brexit referendum. Among these issues, migration is a recurring theme in the quartet. In Spring, Smith interweaves three storylines featuring five characters to present diverse perspectives on migrant experiences in the UK. These storylines converge at the end of the novel with Florence's narration of her dilemma in UK society. As the child of an illegal migrant parent, Florence lives as an outsider in the UK. Florence's presence challenges the conventional understanding of inclusiveness within Englishness and its connection to British identity. This paper will use Derrida's notion of hospitality to argue that Florence represents a resistance to the exclusiveness of Englishness, providing a new perspective on the migrant issues in the UK.

Keywords

Brexit novels ； migrant issues ； hospitality ； Englishness ； Derrida

Parallel abstracts

《春》是阿里．史密斯季節四部曲中的第三部作品。與其他三部小說相同，這本小說聚焦於英國脫歐公投後的社會議題，其中移民問題是整個四部曲中反覆探討的主題之一。在《春》中，史密斯通過三條交織的故事線軸，從五位人物的視角來呈現移民在英國的生活經驗。這些故事情節最終在小說的結尾匯聚，集中展現移民孩童－福倫斯－的困境。作為非法移民父母的孩子，福倫斯在英國社會中過著局外人的生活。她的存在挑戰了傳統對英國包容性的認知，也重新審視了英國身份與排他性之間的關係。本文將運用德里達的好客概念，論證福倫斯如何象徵對英國身份排他性的反抗，並為英國的移民問題提供新的理解視角。

Parallel keywords

英國脫歐 ； 移民問題 ； 好客 ； 英國身份 ； 德里達