This second novel in a sharp duology offers a powerful interrogation of language in the age of mechanical mass destruction This second novel in a sharp duology offers a powerful interrogation of language in the age of mechanical mass destruction N ever knowingly unknowing, Ali Smith pre-empts the most likely criticism of her latest novel, Glyph, when a character says: “I’m just not sure that books that are novels and fiction and so on should be so close to real life … or so politically blatant.”