Jeanette Winterson

Has anyone read any of her works? She is an English-British writer who won an award for her debut novel: a semi autobiographical account of her childhood called Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. And what a childhood! Abandoned by her parents, she was adopted by religious fundamentalists who raised her in poverty. Her father was illiterate and her mother (who was frequently cruel to the girl, locking her in the coalshed etc) would only allow the Bible in the house and spent her time longing for armageddon. Jeanette was raised to be a converter of the heathen and would preach at revival meetings from her early teens. Then she fell in love- with another girl! She was ostracised and eventually left home at 16 to live with a local teacher who took pity on her.

She is a wiry little woman, with unkempt hair and a northern accent; but a brave, tough inspirational woman too. Most people would have been broken by such a childhood: an orphan, gay, raised by christian fundamentalists, rejected by family and friends (after having already been rejected by her real parents) as a teen for her sexuality, kicked out of home. Yet she somehow got to Oxford university! Even there she had to fight. I mean, here was this girl with a strong northern accent and a background of poverty and psychological abuse attending a famous old university full of upper class Brits from Eton and Harrow.

I really like her. Whenever I see her interviewed my admiration grows. She has a lot of interesting things to say about the value and power of art and creativity; about their healing power. Hers is really a life saved by literature- by creativity and imagination. She is also a bit of a Jungian.

I have to confess I haven't read any of her work. I'm going to start with Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Has anyone read any of her other stuff?

I've read a couple of her books, "The passion" and "Sexing the Cherry", and well remember "Oranges are not the only Friut" from the TV adaptation. It was one of the best dramas the BBC has ever done, Dorothy Tutin played the mother to perfection. I've also seen some interviews she's done . I caught a recent one with Melvin Brag about her early life, it was absolutely fascinating. It is a tribute to her strengh and intelligence that she has achieved so much after the start she had.


I can recommend "Sexing the Cherry" it was a fantastic querky read, that has stayed in my mind for many years.

I really liked Oranges. The style she used, mixing mythology and autobiography, was really fascinating.

Regards,

Istvan

Me too as far as the film of Oranges is concerned, remember that making a big impression and being very true to Northern reality. I also liked Sexing the Cherry, esp the scene where the giant woman puts the warmongering politicians in a bag, but most recently read Gut Symmetries and found that not so good. Infact it illustrates the danger of a writer getting too big for their boots.

I read Oranges in my first year of my degree, we did it as part of an intertextuality module and had to relate it to wide sergasso sea and Jane Eyre. I always liked the line "if you want to keep your teeth, you should make your own sandwiches", at least I think thats how it goes its been a while,