{"id":1558,"date":"2021-02-14T09:53:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T14:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2021-02-14T09:53:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T14:53:30","slug":"memories-of-a-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2021\/02\/14\/memories-of-a-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of a Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWritten on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places, the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn\u2019t know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book\u201d (Winterson 89).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the above passage from Jeanette Winterson\u2019s <\/span>Written on the Body<\/span><\/i> the Narrator (who is nameless and genderless) is talking about their intimate relationship with Louise. At the beginning of this passage the words, \u201cwritten on the body\u201d immediately grabs the reader\u2019s attention as a repetition of the title. This passage offers one answer to <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> is written on the body; \u201cwritten on the body is a secret code\u201d. The most obvious interpretation of this would be physical marks, not words and letters specifically, but scars, freckles, and stretch marks which adorn the skin of the Narrator. However, it is also possible that this \u201csecret code\u201d is not written in any physical mark but rather is a metaphor for an internal self that the narrator keeps \u201crolled up away from prying eyes\u201d meaning that they do not readily share their interior thoughts and feelings with others. Following this vein of thinking then, what is \u201cwritten on the body\u201d can be viewed as a reference to the memories of the body, which together speak more towards the being of the Narrator than physical marks. The inclusion of the phrase \u201cNever unfold too much, tell them the whole story\u201d implies a level to which it is possible to keep something hidden away in some small corner that is only accessible if the Narrator allows it. This supports the idea that the secret code is not physical but a metaphor for memories and thoughts, which are internal and able to be hidden. That is until Louise at least, \u201cI didn’t know that Louis would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book\u201d. Louise, unlike any of the other romantic panthers of the Narrator who would have also had access to the Narrator\u2019s body, created the desire within the Narrator to share parts of themself with her, not only their body but their memories and thoughts to the point where they become an open book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The notion that Louise is able to bring up memories of the Narrator is woven through the format of the book. <\/span>Written on the Body<\/span><\/i> is not written linearly but instead jumps around in time as the Narrator relives different memories about past lovers which are brought to the surface by a thought or action of Louise. Memories are more meaningful than physical marks on a body, which dies, decays and changes. Louise\u2019s own body is fighting against her. However, the memories of Louise linger with the Narrator after her body is absent and continues to invoke emotions within the Narrator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWritten on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places, the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I … Continue reading Memories of a Body<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4656,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}