She said, ‘Don’t you know that Renoir claimed he painted with his penis?’ ‘Don’t worry’, I said, ‘He did. When he died they found nothing between his balls but an old brush.’ (p. 22)
‘Yes,’ she said. Do you know why Henry Miller said “I write with my prick”?’ ‘Because he did. When he died they found nothing between his legs but a ballpoint pen.’ (p.60)
When I read these two passages, I doubted whether either Renoir or Miller actually made the above statements, so I did a little research, but was not successful in finding anything. So why did Winterson add these words? What meaning is she trying to convey?
What symbols are the penis and prick intended to represent? Are they more than just a man’s anatomy? When aroused, the organ become engorged with blood, which facilitates penetration and finally results in ejaculation. Semen fertilizes the ovum, thereby creating life. Are these words meant to convey the desire, drive and passion for creative expression? Blood pulses through the organ, giving it a life that is greater than the sum of the mere tissue, cells, and nerve endings it is, in its’ flaccid state.
The tools of the artists, paintbrush and pen, are filled with creative power when manipulated by the creator of that work. The liquids, ink and paint ejaculate, allow the fertile imagination of the artist to be expressed on mediums, canvas and paper, that bring to life the artists’ vision. Their works then become an entity unto themselves, with a life of their own that even outlive the creator. A work of art, of passion, of love and of life, survives to be greater than the sum of the mere pigments and fibers of the mediums used.
This use of phallic symbolism brings me to another question. If the Narrator does not want to be identified by gender, and the author is female, why use the artists Renoir and Miller, to represent creative genius? Why not use Georgia O’Keefe and Elizabeth Bishop instead? Is it because the tools of these artists remain the same, regardless of the gender of the creator? Our language lacks the appropriate symbolism for creative artistry through the reproductive powers of women and women’s anatomy. Are not women often only regarded as receptacles of the seed of creative power, and is that why the phallic symbol has no correlate in our vocabulary? This could also be just one more example of the use of clichés, put into the mouths of Narrator’s lovers, which the narrator claims to hate the use of.
But, alas, sometimes a prick is just a prick.