An analysis of the literary theory and devices used in "Written on the Body". Written for literary theory.

Unmarked by Gender By creating a narrator that can not be identified by gender, Jeanette Winterson, taunts readers out of their ordinary expectations of romance and challenges the standard ideal of a modern romance novel. The fascination is the lush language and the way two aspects of the physical passion and bodily decay are interwoven. Although the language is traditionally romantic, her choice to leave the narrator without gender is groundbreaking. Readers are forced to …

…on a very intimate level, pulling them from their comfort zone and asking that they forget about gender. While holding on to romantic qualities, the novel seeks to defamiliarize and redirect. In many ways this can either distance a reader by making him feel detached, unable to relate because of the lack of gender, or it can employ the reader to take things into his own hands and appreciate the text for what it is.