'I'M TELLING YOU STORIES': Jeanette Winterson and the Politics of Reading. [Hardcover]

Helena Grice (Editor), Tim Woods (Editor), Tim WOODS (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 148 pages
• Publisher: Rodopi (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9042003405
• ISBN-13: 978-9042003408
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,418,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Portrait of the Writer as a Theory, October 7, 2000

By 

L. J. Langham "NewYork&London4Me" (Langhorne, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 'I'M TELLING YOU STORIES': Jeanette Winterson and the Politics of Reading. (Hardcover)

This elusive publication offers nine essays by theory-laden academics. The difficulty in obtaining the title pales beside the unremitting obtuseness of many of the works. Good News: There are two excellent and lucid essays which carry the book, and more than justify one's purchase of it. These are "The Emotional Politics of Reading Winterson" by Lynne Pearce and "Grand (Dis)Unified Theories?" by Helena Grice and Tim Woods, the editors.

Pearce's essay is a very creative and personal examination of her first readings of and reactions to JW's fiction. These initial responses and appraisals are then considered in the light of her re-reading of JW's work and her re-experiencing of the work and Winterson. This essay won my mind and heart immediately; Pearce bravely submitted a jargon free essay which is all the more interesting and valuable to readers of Winterson for its refusal to be ensnared by cryptic verbiage for the sake of cryptic verbiage. Grice and Woods present a close reading of "Gut Symmetries" which is both critically informed and accessible. In the process of insightfully exploring "GT", they highlight all of Winterson's abiding interests. Their essay can be applied to all of JW's novels.

I'm keeping "I'm telling you stories" for those times when re-reading is the plat du jour. The collection would be better fare if Grice and Woods had gotten from each contributor the clarifying and cogent complexity which is achieved in their essay. This early collage reviews all of JW's fiction and is, de facto, an essential work. (Re)re-reading can be fun!