The 'Internal Tree:' Arboreal Symbols in Ali Smith's Autumn

Following the publishing of Autumn (2016), Scottish author Ali Smith has received both international acclaim as well as negative reviews for it supposedly being a collage of seemingly unrelated subjects. This paper challenges such a view by providing insight into one of its hidden meanings – the arboreal symbols – paying attention to the concept of 'Internal Tree' as coined by J.R.R. Tolkien and which resembles the way in which other well-known authors including Smith have explored the topics of authorship and and literature. I will study the origins of these symbols as a trope and examine how the 'Internal Tree' allows authors' development and connection with past, present and future writers while remaining attached to their roots. Both aspects will be briefly traced from the work of Classical authors, the Bible and Anglophone literature, and analysed in Ali Smith's Autumn and a number of her previous works.