Melissammoore’s Weblog

When I began reading Written on the Body, it was a bit confusing for me but instantly intrigued me. There was no easing into this book, when the first sentence asks “Why is the measure of love loss?” and a few paragraphs later confronts the idea of saying ‘I love you’ as being unoriginal. I thought that this was such an interesting take on a saying that has such bearing in our society. Winterson backs up this statement by stating, “You did not say it first and neither did I, yet when you say it and when I say it we speak like savages who have found three words and worship them” (9). Saying ‘I love you’ is such a significant combination of three words, yet it’s not specific to any  one person. Within this statement, Winterson beautifully ties in an excerpt from Shakespeare’s The Tempest in which Caliban is refuting the language that was burdened upon him. I felt that it was an interesting choice to reference The Tempest because the character Ariel is gender ambiguous, similar to that of Winterson’s narrator. Winterson concludes this idea of ‘I love you’ being unoriginal, with the statement that “Love demands expression” (9). I thought that this set the tone for what follows, as many of the relationships described between the narrator and it’s love interests are physically descriptive.  

Winterson’s writing is sometimes difficult for me to follow but I enjoy reading this book. I like her style of being blunt yet at the same time beautifully descriptive and am interested in continuing this reading.