Writing on the Body: Sex, Gender and Identity in the Fiction of Jeanette Winterson and Angela Carter

by Richard Hobbs

Richard Hobbs’s research interests are primarily in the field of identity, particularly gender identity in 20th Century culture, including consideration of sexuality, gender performance and the historicity of roles. He relates perceived roles to literary representations and to ‘real life’, taking into account the blurred boundaries of reality, fiction and fantasy. Hobbs observes gender difference historically as a fluctuating, power-based site and gauges its influence on art and society leading into the 21st Century. 'Writing on the Body…' considers the selected fiction of Jeanette Winterson and Angela Carter with those themes in mind and exposes the significance of self in both.
He “My first reading of Jeanette Winterson’s 'Written on the Body' illustrated a tangible shift in one character’s gender identity from male to female. Making brief notes as I read, it became clear from the first few pages that Winterson intended her narrator’s gender to remain ambiguous and I diligently referred to ‘the narrator’ instead of generics, such as ‘him’ or ‘her.’
Angela Carter’s 'The Passion of New Eve' offers an interesting comparison with Winterson’s text. Gender identity is explored through Evelyn, the sexually dominant male, who is captured by a matriarchal gang of outlaws and surgically altered to become Eve. In addition to a biological sex change, the female project at ‘Beulah’ is to culturally alter Evelyn into a ‘woman’.”

55 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2004