"Sexing the Cherry", Jeanette Winterson (1989)

Résumé du document

"Sexing the Cherry" by Jeanette Winterson is a reading experience as major themes of life are defamiliarized and gives the readers keys to reconsider his or her view of the world. Jeanette Winterson was born in a protestant family. She had to fight to conceal her religious education and her homosexuality. She faced her family's prejudices and realized that her conception and perception of the world was quite different from her family's views. Sexing the Sherry deeply questions the role of women in society and especially of their body.

The novel is the story of Jordan, an orphan found floating on the River Thames and of the Dog Woman, a giantess. At the centre of the book are the stories of the Twelve Dancing Princess. It is the rewriting of the original tale which narrates how twelve princesses went and danced all night long without be allowed by their father.

Jeanette Winterson varies and adds to this tale in Sexing the Cherry, in which the old soldier is a prince with 11 brothers, each of them marries a sister except the youngest, who escapes before her wedding to the prince.

How is the rewriting of the tale a metamorphosis in itself? How is metamorphosis process defamiliarized? What does mean metamorphosis in the novel? How are the intertextual references in the original text questioned by the rewriting?

Extraits

[...] Here the lady loses her shoe In sexing the cherry, the young women escape by the window and fly. Woman at the window, Dali 1925 It symbolizes the escape to another world and gives body and soul further possibilities. The virginity gift is no longer a loss; it opens perspective on another life id est. sexual life. Weather as a clue of metamorphosis Then, in Aztec mythology, the god of wind and bad weather is also the god of metamorphosis (Quetzalcoatl the ruler god associated with Ehecatl the divine wind constitute the metamorphosis process). [...]

[...] in sexing the cherry The Dog Woman is fat, giant, wears a large skirt. She is dirty, with scars in which fleas could live. She is describes as a kind of a giant witch. Her language is rude. Paula Rego Even thought she resembles a witch she proves to be kind and loving to Jordan. She incarnates somehow a saint mother in a witch's body. Her behavior does not correspond to her physical appearance. This is unconventional here: this gap between behavior and appearance is generally applied to bad people who faint to be good appropriating the attributes of a trustful character. [...]

[...] The rewriting of “Twelve dancing princesses” is a metamorphosis in itself. By helping the reader to overcome social boundaries and rules, the novel is an anti-tale. It reveals how tales still have a great influence on manhood and especially on children id est. on the society to come. Then, Jeannette Winterson depicts ravages caused by hyper patriarchal societies and fights for women's rights and liberty. Contrary to the tale by which children are told to obey social rules, “Sexing the Cherry” guides the reader to emancipation and liberty. [...]

[...] The process is often referred to by Jeannette Winterson. It can be very clear but it is sometimes deeply hidden. One of the most obvious metamorphoses is the change of one of the princess's husband when she kisses well, the first time I kissed him he turned into a frog” . It fairy tale the exact opposite generally happens: a princess kisses a frog who reveals to be a handsome man. Then, the eldest princess explains that she is now living with her girlfriend, a mermaid, in a well. [...]

[...] Angry, she changed him into a deer: He is eaten by his Fifty dogs. Is she human or not? Is she partly animal? Is she an incarnation of the hunting goddess, Artemis? Is she really good to Jordan? Is she the dominating dog? Then she takes Jordan to her home just like a she-cat or a she-dog would take her cub into her shelter. This is a kind of metamorphosis: she behaves like an animal. Her instinct is animal; she needs as much Jordan as he needs her to survive. [...]