What appears s not what is: Jeanette Winterson's Art & lies and the passion

Abstract

Itwouldbenomistaketostatethatamongthecommonest routes contemporary literature in English takes is one of asserting history'sandreality'sfictionalityanddissolvingtheboundarybetween real and imaginary. The route is certainly common enough in the work of the controversial British author Jeanette Winterson, whose proseisaneverendinginterplaybetweenfactandfiction,realityand fantasy. Winterson'scriticallyneglectedArt&Lies(1995)epitomises the disintegration ofclearcutlinesbetween(auto)biography, history andfictionthroughasetofbinarieslikeart/life,art/lie,orfact/fiction, transformingourideasoftruthandlie.SimilarconcernsinformThe Passion (1987), which is more universally praised. The parallels between the two works suggest a continuum in Winterson's literary explorations of the nature of truth and reality, the status of fiction andhistoricalrecord,andtheusefulnessofbinariesandlabels.This paper aims at exploring how these polyphonic prose pieces rebel againstsinglepointsofview,redefinethenotionsofhistoryasfactand storytellingasfabrication,andexhibitapreferenceforthetruthofthe imaginationandunofcialperspectives.