Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

Will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. “I was deep in the slopbucket of romance.” Update this section! “Scoop me in your hands for I am good soil. “I” becomes another pronoun which is a gateway to metaphorical imagery: The object of affection is seen through the eyes of metaphor, but the narrator does not live isolated in the literal world. “I came to you for a crown and you offered me a kingdom.” 'I' “You stood up and the water fell from you in silver streams.”

“You are a pool of clear water where the light plays.” The “you” exists in two worlds separately but simultaneously, as literal being as well as metaphorical concept.

The narrator is constantly addressing a lover as “you” and what follows the pronoun is often the construction of a metaphor. I didn’t think it could come after us.” 'You' Looking back I thought I saw the darkness where we had left it. We walked into the morning, the morning was waiting for us, it was already perfect, high sun over a level plain. “Louise and I, walked out of darkness as though it were a tunnel. Here are two examples in the same paragraph: It is almost certainly the most pervasive metaphor in modern fiction and if not, then it certainly ranks in the top three.

It is hard to find a novel written after 1900 that doesn’t use “darkness” as a metaphor. “Like Dirk Bogarde she prided herself on her profile and it was lit to suitable effect under the dull streetlights.” Darkness If Bogey and Bacall pass you by, chances are you won’t get this allusion to a French actor synonymous with “cool.” They populate the figurative seascape like icebergs in the ocean and those unfamiliar with likely crash into one eventually. Navigating thought the narrative will require a proper knowledge of pop culture references. The trees are prospecting underground, sending reserves of roots into the dry ground, roots like razors to open any artery water-fat.” Pop Culture The first shot over the bow falls somewhere in the middle: Some are easily understood while others less so. It is a sign of things to come as this is a metaphor-laden narrative. And since the first paragraph is just one sentence, that’s close enough. Well, not exactly the opening sentence, but the second paragraph.

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Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson