Jeanette Winterson may be an acquired taste in literature. I had an acquaintance who was a writer, so I asked her one day who her favorite writers were. That is how I came to learn about Winterson. I jumped in the the magical world in Sexing The Cherry with an immediate love for her prose. I have great admiration for someone who can thoroughly transport me into another world to go on a journey of character development and pure adventure all within 200 pages. This in no easy feat.
After Sexing the Cherry, I moved onto The Passion, which continued the feeling of magic without being in a typical plot along the lines of either The Hobbit or King Arthur style magic. Winterson weaves art, literature, philosophy and history to enlighten us about the fact that the struggles we face today on such topical debates of equality for all are nothing new.
I was recently at Longfellow Books, my favorite local book store in Portland, and found Winterson's, Art & Lies. Although this book does not have the same tight plot as her others, it does have some beautifully written passages and the thoughts behind the different characters are relevant and important.
For example: "Read me. Read me now. Words in your mouth that will modify your gut. Words that will become you. Recite me until you know me off by heart. Lift up a flap of skin and the word sings. On the operating table the word sings. In the grave the words push up the earth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the living word." Art & Lies, pg. 144
I leave you know to return to Winterson's world where Picasso is a sane woman, Handel is a doctor and Sappho is searching a cross-dressing pub in London.
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