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How to Be Both
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How to Be Both is a 2014 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, first published by Hamish Hamilton.[1] It was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize[2] and the 2015 Folio Prize.[3] It won the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize,[4][5] the Novel Award in the 2014 Costa Book Awards and the 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.[6]

Key Information

Plot introduction

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The story is told from two perspectives: George's, a pedantic 16-year-old girl living in contemporary Cambridge, and Francesco del Cossa's, an Italian renaissance artist responsible for painting a series of frescoes in the 'Hall of the Months' at the Palazzo Schifanoia (translated as the 'Palace of Not Being Bored' in the novel) in Ferrara, Italy. Two versions of the book were published simultaneously, one in which George's story appears first, the other in which Francesco's comes first.[7]

George

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Struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of her mother (Dr Carol Martineau, Economist Journalist Internet Guerilla Interventionist – according to her obituary), George attends counselling sessions at her school. She also has to look after her younger brother, Henry, and cope with her alcoholic father. She recalls travelling with her mother to see the frescos in Ferrara and asking her about the elusive painter Francesco del Cossa. Her mother believed herself to be being monitored by security services as a result of her subversive activities and George has inherited this belief, and becomes obsessed with Lisa Goliard, a friend of her mother's with a suspicious claim to being an artist. George also becomes obsessed with Francesco and travels frequently to London to view his portrait of St. Vincent Ferrer.

Francesco

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Francesco finds his disembodied self in front of his portrait of St. Vincent Ferrer as it is being examined by what appears to be a boy. He muses on how he came to find himself in this situation, thinking back to the events in his own past life, and as he does so he becomes attached to the (apparent) boy; but people—and genders—are never what they seem to be. Or maybe they are both.

Reception

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Elizabeth Day in The Observer concludes that "The Francesco passages are littered with poetic fragments that pull the chronology forward and back and so out-of-shape that sometimes, it is difficult to know what is happening...Personally, I preferred George's narrative and could have happily read an entire novel which consisted of a more conventional plotting of her story. I admired the Francesco passages rather than feeling engrossed by them and occasionally it felt as if Smith's ideas were so clever they were in danger of getting in the way of the story. But there is no doubt that Smith is dazzling in her daring. The sheer inventive power of her new novel pulls you through, gasping, to the final page."[7]

Laura Miller in The Guardian comments on duality of the novel: "While I do not doubt the two halves of How to Be Both may be read in either order with satisfying results, once read, it's impossible to know what it would be like to first encounter it in the alternate order... How to Be Both is unforgettable. I can never know what it would be like to meet George before knowing Del Cossa, so that version of the novel is forever lost to me. It's a bit sad. But it was worth it."[8]

Arifa Akbar in The Independent also comments on the dual narrative, saying that "Smith has written a radical novel, one that becomes two novels, with discrete meanings, through its (re)ordering... How to be Both shows us that the arrangement of a story, even when it's the same story, can change our understanding of it and define our emotional attachments. We may have known this, but to see it enacted with such imagination is dazzling indeed. Those writers making doomy predictions about the death of the novel should read Smith's re-imagined novel/s, and take note of the life it contains."[9]

Patrick Flanery of The Telegraph finds that "The pain of mourning and loss is seared into the lives of Smith's two motherless heroines, but despite the novel's refusal of consolation and the profound seriousness of the questions it explores, How to be Both brims with palpable joy, not only at language, literature, and art's transformative power, but at the messy business of being human, of wanting to be more than one kind of person at once. The possibilities unleashed by the desire to be neither one thing nor the other means that one may ever and always strive to be both. With great subtlety and inventiveness, Smith continues to expand the boundaries of the novel".[10]

Ron Charles of The Washington Post writes that "This gender-blending, genre-blurring story, bounces across centuries, tossing off profound reflections on art and grief, without getting tangled in its own postmodern wires. It's the sort of death-defying storytelling acrobatics that don't seem entirely possible — How did she get here from there? — but you've got to be willing to hang on...This sounds like a novel freighted with postmodern gimmicks, but Smith knows how to be both fantastically complex and incredibly touching."[11]

In 2024, the novel was listed at number 99 in The New York Times list of 100 Best Books of the 21st century.[12]

References

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How to Be Both

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How to Be Both is a by Scottish author , comprising two intertwined narratives: one following a young Italian fresco painter in the 1460s who disguises herself as male to pursue her craft, and the other depicting a teenager grappling with her mother's death and personal identity in the present day. The work employs an innovative dual structure, with half of the printed copies beginning with the historical section and the other half with the contemporary one, emphasizing themes of duality in , , , and time. Published on 28 August 2014 by in the UK and in the US, the novel draws inspiration from the real-life artist , reimagining elements of his life while paralleling it with modern experiences of loss and artistic expression. It received widespread critical acclaim for its linguistic playfulness and structural experimentation, earning shortlistings for the Man Booker Prize in 2014 and the Folio Prize in 2015. Among its notable achievements, How to Be Both won the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize for innovative fiction, the 2014 Costa Novel Award, and the 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, marking Smith as the first author to win the latter with a book also shortlisted for the Booker. These accolades underscore the novel's success in blending with postmodern techniques, though some critics noted its challenging, non-linear style may demand active reader engagement.

Background

Writing and inspiration

Ali Smith's inspiration for How to Be Both originated from a reproduction of a by the 15th-century Italian painter , featured in the April 2013 issue of Frieze magazine. The image depicted a resilient figure in rags from del Cossa's Mese di Marzo (Month of March, circa 1469), part of the Hall of the Months in Ferrara's . Prompted by this, Smith visited the Palazzo in 2013, shortly after its partial reopening following 2012 earthquakes measuring 5.9 and 5.8 on the , to view the frescoes firsthand. Del Cossa, born in the 1430s, contributed to the Palazzo's decorations but departed after disputing payment with Duke , later dying in his early 40s during a plague outbreak. Smith's research drew on sparse historical records of the artist, supplemented by searches, translations of Italian texts, and a 1960s catalogue on techniques, particularly underdrawings known as sinopie, which informed the novel's layered structure mimicking fresco composition. The writing process began after Smith abandoned an initial draft of a different following four months of work, deeming it unsuitable, and pivoted in 2013 to explore del Cossa's era with fresh curiosity akin to a child's perspective. This shift, completed by 2014, integrated empirical details from history with Smith's established experimental style, emphasizing the dual visibility in frescoes—surface imagery over preparatory layers—as a structural influence for pairing historical and contemporary elements.

Publication history

How to Be Both was first published in hardcover in the by , an imprint of , in 2014, with 9780241146828, and in the United States by on December 2, 2014, with 9780375424106. The initial editions featured a experiment in which two variants were produced in approximately equal proportions, one opening with the contemporary and the other with the historical , with copies randomized in distribution to bookstores. Paperback editions followed, including a US release by Anchor Books on October 13, 2015, with ISBN 9780307275257. Following its shortlisting for the Man Booker Prize in 2014, the book sold nearly 1,300 copies in the UK. Its win of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015 led to a significant sales increase. The novel has been made available in e-book formats through major retailers and as an , with no major reprints or new editions reported through 2025. It has been translated into several languages, though specific counts vary by publisher records.

Narrative Structure

Dual narratives

How to Be Both features two interdependent that operate in a non-linear fashion, connected primarily through recurring motifs of and artistic creation rather than sequential plot progression. One narrative unfolds in present-day , while the other is situated in mid-15th-century , , allowing the stories to resonate across centuries via shared concerns with visual interpretation and layered meanings. The contemporary section utilizes conventional prose rhythms blended with idiomatic contemporary , facilitating a direct, introspective voice attuned to modern sensory experiences. In contrast, the historical section employs a looser, stream-like with period-inflected and fragmented associations, simulating the associative thought processes of a Renaissance-era consciousness unbound by later narrative conventions. Each spans roughly equivalent lengths—around 150-200 pages depending on formatting—establishing parity that disrupts expectations of a dominant storyline and encourages readers to perceive the whole as a unified, bidirectional structure where neither precedes the other in essence. This balance underscores the novel's formal experiment in simultaneity, mirroring techniques where underlayers and surfaces coexist without fixed hierarchy.

Edition variants and distribution

The novel was released in two distinct print editions by in the on July 24, , with approximately half the initial print run beginning with the historical narrative ("eyes" section, focused on ) and the other half starting with the contemporary narrative ("camera" section, focused on George). Both editions feature identical external bindings and cover designs, ensuring that the sequence of narratives is undisclosed until the book is opened, thereby randomizing the reader's initial encounter with the text. This dual printing approach was designed by author and the publisher to materially enact the novel's thematic exploration of duality and simultaneity, emphasizing that neither narrative order constitutes a "correct" or privileged reading path. Smith has stated that the randomization mirrors the book's conceptual framework, where perspectives coexist without hierarchy, compelling readers to engage with the material form as an integral element of interpretation rather than a neutral container. In distribution, copies were shipped to retailers in mixed batches without labeling by variant, simulating a literal coin-flip for purchasers and aligning with the publisher's goal of subverting conventional linear expectations in book production. The U.S. edition, published by on December 2, 2014, followed a similar model with randomized sequences across printings. Digital editions, available from launch via platforms like Kindle, present a fixed order—typically starting with the contemporary —but allow readers to navigate sections non-sequentially if desired, though without the physical surprise of print variants. No bundled sets offering both sequences were produced in subsequent years, and print runs post-2014 reverted to single-sequence editions in paperback reprints.

Plot Summary

Contemporary narrative (George)

The contemporary narrative follows Georgia, nicknamed George, a 16-year-old schoolgirl in , , set in the early following her mother's sudden death. Her mother, Carol Martineau, an economist and online activist known for creating subversive digital content, succumbed to an anaphylactic reaction to a common at age 50, about a year before the primary events. George lives with her father, whose manifests in heavy drinking and passive television viewing, and her younger brother Henry, whom she routinely comforts and cares for amid the family's emotional strain. George often absents herself from , filling time with ritualistic dances and video watching, while recalling a pre-death family trip to , , to view historical frescoes. She becomes fixated on H, a local musician and artist, secretly recording H's performances and subsequently surveilling H's residence and daily routines. This obsession stems from an earlier encounter, prompting George to track H's movements covertly. At , George develops a close with classmate Helena Fisker, a bold student of mixed heritage who aids her with revision and school projects. Significant episodes include George and H meeting in a multi-story car park for an impromptu musical session, followed by collaborative work on academic tasks where George shares personal recordings. George travels to London's to examine artworks on temporary exhibit, an outing tied to her late mother's interests, during which she spots and trails a woman named Lisa Goliard—whom her mother had suspected of intelligence surveillance due to activist suspicions—back to a address. These interactions occur against the backdrop of ongoing family reflections, including George's management of household issues like a leaking reported to her father.

Historical narrative (Francesco del Cossa)

The historical narrative of How to Be Both reimagines the life of , a real Ferrarese painter active in the mid-15th century, as that of a girl named Francesca who disguises herself as a boy to train and work as an artist under the patriarchal constraints of . Born around the 1430s near but raised in , Francesco's father, a carpenter named Christofano, notices her precocious talent for drawing patterns and forms during childhood, such as observing concentric ripples expanding in a puddle of horse urine, which sparks early meditations on infinity and artistic representation. To enable her apprenticeship in his workshop, the father agrees to teach her only if she binds her chest, cuts her hair, and assumes a male identity, a disguise she maintains to navigate restrictions and societal norms barring women from professional artistry. As a young male-presenting apprentice in 1460s Ferrara, Francesco hones her skills through observation and sketching, frequenting local brothels not for solicitation but to capture the female form in motion and repose, prioritizing draftsmanship over carnality when a friend introduces her to a . This period includes formative encounters, such as with a dark-skinned girl named Isotta, which awaken sensual and creative impulses, fueling her evolving style of vivid, allegorical compositions. By the late 1460s, her reputation grows, leading to a commission from Duke for the Palazzo Schifanoia, the Este family's pleasure palace in ; there, around 1469–1470, Francesco paints the upper tiers of the Sala dei Mesi cycle, depicting the zodiac triumphs for March (Aries), April (Taurus), and May (Gemini) with dynamic figures blending , , and courtly pomp. Artistic rivalries emerge, particularly with Cosmè Tura, the duke's favored painter whose drier style contrasts Francesco's fluid vitality; dissatisfied with meager compensation—receiving only 30 lire per figure versus Tura's 40—Francesco pens a bold 1470 letter to the duke defending her superior execution and demanding parity, which secures a raise but highlights her precarious position as an upstart. Following completion of the Schifanoia work, tensions with patrons and peers prompt her departure from circa 1470, relocating to where she undertakes further commissions, including altarpieces and portraits, until her death around 1478. Smith's account draws on scant historical records of del Cossa's career—primarily documents and surviving frescoes—but fabricates the gender disguise and intimate vignettes, liberties enabled by the artist's obscure early biography and sparse personal archives.

Characters

George and associated figures

George, the central figure in the contemporary narrative, is a 16-year-old girl living in , , whose full name is Georgina but who is known as George. Following the sudden death of her mother, she cuts her hair short and adopts a boyish style of dress, leading others to frequently mistake her for a teenager. She demonstrates proficiency in computer hacking, using these skills to navigate online environments and investigate aspects of her mother's past. Throughout the story, George's development involves heightened observation of her surroundings and imitation of others' mannerisms as a means of engaging with the world. George's mother, a politically engaged involved in online subversive activities as part of a group called the "subvert interventionists," dies unexpectedly from a heart condition, an event that occurred prior to the main timeline set around 2012. Her father's identity as a influences family dynamics, with his attempts at normalcy contrasting George's withdrawn behavior. Her older brother, Davy, serves as a more socially integrated , participating in school life and providing occasional counterpoints to George's introspective isolation through their sibling interactions. Lisa Goliard, a friend of George's mother who claims expertise in art history, plays a key role by accompanying George on a trip to Italy to view frescoes linked to the novel's historical narrative, facilitating George's exposure to visual art amid her personal circumstances. These figures interact with George primarily through everyday family routines and occasional outings, underscoring her tendency toward solitary pursuits like digital exploration and art viewing against their more conventional engagements. The contemporary setting draws on the context of the 2011 English riots, referenced in relation to events affecting George's social circle.

Francesco del Cossa and historical figures

In Ali Smith's novel How to Be Both, Francesco del Cossa is portrayed as a prodigious young painter from Ferrara who, after her mother's death, adopts male attire to apprentice under her father and evade societal restrictions on women in the arts, eventually gaining employment at the Este court. This fictional cross-dressing enables Francesco's immersion in fresco techniques, observational acuity, and ambitious pursuits, including rendering vibrant astrological and mythological scenes for the Palazzo Schifanoia, where she captures the interplay of human figures, deities, and zodiac symbols with innovative perspective and detail. The narrative emphasizes her personal drive, artistic rivalries, and encounters in settings like brothels, where she sketches rather than indulges, highlighting themes of disguise and creativity over historical veracity. Historically, (c. 1430–c. 1477) was a male artist of the Ferrarese school, born in as the son of stone-carver Cristoforo del Cossa, with no records indicating gender disguise or female identity; he trained in a of artisans and rose through court patronage without documented personal . His documented work includes the Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes (c. 1469–1470), where he independently painted the months of March (), April (), and May, integrating three-layered compositions of triumphant deities, zodiac signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini), and Ferrarese court life to evoke astrological and seasonal cycles under 's commission. Del Cossa's frustration with remuneration is authentically reflected in his preserved letter of March 25, 1470, to , protesting low pay relative to rivals like Cosmè Tura and demanding fairer compensation for his superior contributions, which prompted a raise but led him to leave for by 1470. Supporting characters in the novel's historical strand include Francesco's father, depicted as a woodcutter who imparts rudimentary carving and drawing skills before her artistic ascent, contrasting the real del Cossa's stonemason father who likely influenced his early sculptural training. The Este patrons, led by , appear as demanding yet culturally ambitious employers funding the Schifanoia project to symbolize ducal power through humanist-astrological iconography, aligning with historical records of the court's lavish artistic investments. Rivals such as Tura are woven in as competitive peers whose styles—more angular and gothic—underscore Francesco's fluid, lifelike innovations, though the novel amplifies personal tensions beyond the factual collaborative dynamics among Ferrarese painters. These fictional embellishments, including , serve Smith's narrative linkage across eras but diverge from archival evidence limited to del Cossa's professional output and correspondence, with no attestation of in 15th-century sources.

Themes and Motifs

Art, observation, and reality

In Ali Smith's How to Be Both, the motif of art underscores the tension between empirical observation and preconceived assumptions, portraying as a process of uncovering layered realities. Francesco del Cossa's narrative centers on the fresco technique, where pigments applied to freshly plastered walls bind chemically to create permanent, multifaceted images that evolve in interpretation over time. This method, historically employed by del Cossa in the Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes (circa 1469–1470), integrates naturalistic human figures with astrological and mythological elements, prioritizing depictions grounded in observable phenomena like light, , and spatial depth over mere decorative illusion. Such techniques reflect a commitment to causal fidelity in representation, where the artist's gaze dissects the physical world—trees as both static forms and dynamic motions—to reveal underlying truths invisible to superficial viewing. This painterly scrutiny parallels the observational acuity in George's storyline, where her persistent watching of surroundings challenges rote perceptions. George's encounters with visual media and architecture echo Francesco's method of seeing dual states—objects as simultaneously solid and fluid—fostering a critique of assumptive sight that overlooks contextual depths. For instance, the novel draws on del Cossa's Ferrara frescoes, where layered compositions (e.g., foreground triumphs overlaying cosmic backdrops) demand iterative scrutiny to discern integrated narratives, much as George's evolving gaze uncovers interconnections across disparate scenes. Ultimately, the motif posits as a corrective to perceptual shortcuts, advocating layered empirical engagement over singular, illusory fixes. By invoking del Cossa's realism—evident in the lively, proportionate figures of the Sala dei Mesi—the narrative illustrates how true observation bridges temporal divides, rendering reality not as fixed but as a composite of verifiable strata discernible through sustained, unassuming .

Gender, disguise, and identity

In Ali Smith's How to Be Both (2014), the historical narrative reimagines the 15th-century Italian painter as a biological who adopts a male following the death of her brother, enabling her to pursue artistic training and commissions in a patriarchal society that barred women from such professions. This fictional device allows Francesco to navigate apprenticeships and court patronage in and , where male identity grants access to workspaces and social legitimacy otherwise denied to women. The disguise manifests practically through altered clothing, mannerisms, and suppression of female physical development, serving as a causal mechanism for socioeconomic agency rather than an expression of innate incongruence. The contemporary narrative echoes this through the George (short for Georgina), a teenage whose androgynous name and observational of others' behaviors evoke fluid self-presentation amid adolescent . Unlike Francesco's overt cross-dressing for survival, George's arises from linguistic play—her name interchangeably male and female—and subtle performative adaptations in social interactions, linking the narratives thematically without direct . Traditional interpretations frame Francesco's disguise as a pragmatic adaptation to era-specific barriers, rooted in biological sex differences that structured labor markets, where women's exclusion from guilds stemmed from physical demands of fresco work and cultural norms enforcing domestic roles. Historical records of the real (c. 1430–1477), documented in ducal payments and correspondence for the Palazzo Schifanoia es, contain no evidence of gender variance or disguise, indicating Smith's portrayal as unbound by empirical biography. Contemporary readings, often from perspectives, project fluidity onto Francesco's , interpreting the disguise as proto-transgender embodiment or subversion of binary norms, yet such views risk by overlooking the rigid enforcement of sex-segregated roles in 15th-century , where carried severe legal and social penalties under sumptuary laws without evidence of identity-driven motivations. Biological essentialist critiques emphasize that disguise alters external perception but not underlying , which causally determines reproductive roles and physical capacities influencing vocational access; thus, Francesco's strategy prioritizes opportunity over ontological redefinition. No primary sources from del Cossa's era suggest inherent , underscoring the novel's use of disguise as a tool for exploring contingency rather than historical verity.

Grief, memory, and temporal linkage

George's grief following her mother's abrupt death from an allergic reaction manifests as a profound disruption to routine and perception, with memories of intimate maternal interactions—such as decoding puzzles or traveling to Italy—serving as anchors against oblivion, often invoked through fixation on historical artworks. This loss propels a retreat into internal reverie, reflecting empirical patterns where bereavement impairs executive function and temporal sequencing, as documented in bereavement studies showing heightened rumination and fragmented recall. Francesco, likewise, contends with maternal bereavement and sibling hardships in 15th-century Ferrara, where such deprivations catalyze a drive toward artistic vocation, transforming absence into productive evasion of prescribed roles like nunhood. The narratives' interplay establishes loss as a causal connector, with Francesco's posthumous vantage observing George's , implying 's capacity to forge transhistorical bonds independent of strict chronology. Smith's bifurcated editions—one commencing with each storyline—enact this via structural reciprocity, demanding cross-referential reading akin to reconstructing non-linear traces, where warps time into suspended loops rather than progressive arcs. Such design underscores causal realism in : not a sentimental but a persistent cognitive fracture, evidenced by George's numb detachment and Francesco's opportunistic resilience amid . Critiques highlight the denouements' —leaving presences unresolved—as potentially artistic deferral of grief's intractable terminus, prioritizing metaphysical over verifiable closure, though this mirrors documented variability in long-term bereavement trajectories where integration remains incomplete for many. This approach avoids romantic idealization, privileging grief's empirical inertia: a force that alters trajectories without erasing underlying voids, as opposed to narratives implying redemptive harmony.

Reception and Analysis

Awards and recognition

How to Be Both was shortlisted for the in 2014, selected by a panel of judges chaired by AC Grayling from a longlist of 13 novels, recognizing it among six finalists for its innovative structure and literary merit. That same year, the novel won the , awarded by a panel including critics and academics for fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the form," with judges praising its dual narratives and experimental approach. It also received the as part of the 2014 Costa Book Awards, determined by a judging panel including authors and booksellers for outstanding achievement in the novel category. Additionally, it was named Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society in 2014, honoring works by Scottish authors through a process emphasizing cultural and literary impact. In 2015, How to Be Both won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction—now known as the —with a panel chaired by selecting it from a shortlist of six for its bold experimentation and thematic depth, awarding £30,000.

Critical reception

Upon its release in 2014, How to Be Both garnered significant praise from major literary outlets for its innovative dual narrative structure, blending a contemporary story with a Renaissance artist's perspective, and for Smith's witty linguistic experimentation. The Guardian hailed it as a "dazzling dual-narrative novel" that explores interconnected stories through chance-determined textual order, emphasizing themes of observation and artistic subversion. Similarly, The New York Times commended the overlapping motifs of art's subversive power and gender fluidity, noting the novel's success in linking disparate eras through shared human experiences. NPR described it as combining "inventive structural trickery" with "warm, sardonic writing," highlighting the parallel tales of bereavement and artistic creation as both playful and profound. Critics across aggregators like Book Marks assigned it a "rave" rating from 16 reviews, reflecting broad approval for its genre-bending conversation between historical and modern truths. However, not all responses were unqualified; some noted the experimental archaic style in the Francesco del Cossa section as occasionally opaque, potentially alienating readers unaccustomed to such linguistic shifts. Independent reviewers, including those skeptical of overt modern parallels to historical gender disguise, questioned whether the novel's fluidity imposed contemporary ideological lenses on ahistorical figures, though such views remained marginal amid dominant acclaim. The novel's reception solidified its place in high literary esteem, as evidenced by its ranking at #99 on ' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century list, underscoring enduring appreciation for its formal ambition despite pockets of critique regarding accessibility. Initial UK sales exceeded expectations for experimental fiction, contributing to commercial viability alongside critical buzz.

Interpretations and critiques

Scholars have interpreted the novel's dual narrative structure, published in two alternating editions in 2014, as a postmodern embrace of multiplicity, wherein the interchangeable halves—set in 15th-century Italy and contemporary England—challenge linear causality and fixed identities, positing that meaning emerges from relational contingencies rather than singular truths. This view aligns with postcritical reading practices, as articulated in analyses emphasizing the text's visual epistemology, where sight disrupts binary oppositions like past/present and male/female, fostering an affective, non-hierarchical engagement over detached interpretation. Such readings draw on John Berger's influence, framing the protagonists' "ways of seeing" as tools for subjective reconstruction across temporal divides, thereby privileging fluid interconnections over essentialist anchors. In contrast, essentialist interpretations stress the novel's underscoring of individual agency and perceptual realism, where the enduring act of artistic creation—evident in Francesco's and George's observational acuity—reveals causal constants in human cognition that persist beyond social flux. These readings highlight how the text's reciprocity between narratives posits as a medium for authentic self-expression, resisting postmodern dissolution into pure relativity by grounding and duality in pragmatic, historically contingent choices rather than innate fluidity. Post-2014 , such as examinations of its architectural , further elucidates this by arguing the structure enacts a metaphysical reciprocity that affirms observer-dependent yet objectively verifiable realities, akin to layering where underlying forms dictate surface multiplicity. Critiques have targeted the novel's potential anachronism in overlaying modern and identity paradigms onto Renaissance disguise practices, which historical evidence attributes more to economic survival and restrictions than proto-queer , risking distortion of causal historical motivations. This projection, some contend, exemplifies a broader trend in where transient social constructs eclipse art's transhistorical essence, as the text's temporal linkages prioritize empathetic linkage over rigorous evidentiary linkage between epochs. Academic discourse post-2014 has debated this in metamodern terms, reconciling postmodern oscillation with a "return of the real" through the novel's insistence on perceptual immediacy, though skeptics from less ideologically aligned perspectives view such elite formal experiments as indulgent, detached from broader empirical verifiability in favor of insular aesthetic play. These tensions underscore ongoing scholarly friction between the novel's innovative reciprocity and demands for causal in interpreting cross-era human experience.

References

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  34. https://www.publicbooks.org/past-and-future-both-color-the-present/
  35. https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/how-to-be-both/
  36. https://leedsbookclub.com/2014/10/06/man-booker-challenge-2014-how-to-be-both/
  37. https://www.jeffkaplanarts.com/book-blog/how-to-be-both-by-ali-smith
  38. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/9914/9/Andermahr_Sonya_Oxford_Academic_2018_Both_And_Aesthetics.pdf
  39. https://www.academia.edu/86363371/A_whole_spectrum_of_colours_new_to_the_eye_Gender_Metamorphoses_and_Identity_Frescoes_in_Girl_Meets_Boy_and_How_to_Be_Both_by_Ali_Smith
  40. https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2220&context=dissertations_mu
  41. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/the-artful-duality-of-how-to-be-both/383349/
  42. https://thepolyphony.org/2021/11/11/grief-reading-and-narrative-time/
  43. http://www.dawn.com/news/1200619
  44. https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/ali-smith
  45. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/12/ali-smith-goldsmith-prize-how-to-be-both
  46. https://universitytimes.ie/2015/11/book-review-how-to-be-both-by-ali-smith/
  47. https://womensprize.com/ali-smith-wins-the-2015-baileys-womens-prize-for-fiction/
  48. https://triumphofthenow.com/2014/10/13/review-how-to-be-both-by-ali-smith/
  49. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11470185/Why-great-novels-dont-get-noticed-now.html
  50. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00111619.2022.2032572
  51. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jmodelite.42.3.08
  52. https://journals.openedition.org/ebc/14106
  53. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00111619.2022.2047878
  54. https://researchonline.stthomas.edu/view/pdfCoverPage?instCode=01CLIC_STTHOMAS&filePid=13439865310003691&download=true
  55. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336260832_The_return_of_the_%27real%27_in_Ali_Smith%27s_Artful_2012_and_How_to_Be_Both_2014
  56. https://academic.oup.com/camqtly/article/52/4/350/7603147
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