Buy new:
$16.69$16.69
FREE delivery: Monday, April 3 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Buy used: $7.24
Other Sellers on Amazon
+ $4.29 shipping
94% positive over last 12 months
& FREE Shipping
91% positive over last 12 months
Usually ships within 3 to 4 days.
FREE Shipping
75% positive over last 12 months
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Written on the Body Paperback – February 1, 1994
| Price | New from | Used from |
Enhance your purchase
“At once a love story and a philosophical meditation.” —New York Times Book Review.
- Print length192 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage
- Publication dateFebruary 1, 1994
- Dimensions5.19 x 0.48 x 7.96 inches
- ISBN-100679744479
- ISBN-13978-0679744474
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Written on the Body
By Jeanette WintersonVintage Books USA
Copyright ©1994 Jeanette WintersonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780679744474
Excerpt
The interesting thing about a knot is its formal complexity. Even the simplestpedigree knot, the trefoil, with its three roughly symmetrical lobes, hasmathematical as well as artistic beauty. For the religious, Kind Solomon's knotis said to embody the essence of all knowledge. For carpet makers and clothweavers all over the world, the challenge of the knot lies in the rules of itssurprises. Knots can change but they must be well-behaved. An informal knot is amessy knot.
Louise and I were held by a single loop of love. The cord passing round ourbodies had no sharp twists or sinister turns. Our wrists were not tied and therewas no noose about our necks. In Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuriesa favourite sport was to fasten two fighters together with a strong rope and letthem beat each other to death. Often it was death because the loser couldn'tback off and the victor rarely spared him. The victor kept the rope and tied aknot in it. He had only to swing it through the streets to terrify money frompassers-by.
I don't want to be your sport nor you to be mine. I don't want to punch you forthe pleasure of it, tangling the clear lines that bind us, forcing you to yourknees, dragging you up again. The public face of a life in chaos. I want thehoop around our hearts to be a guide not a terror. I don't want to pull youtighter than you can bear. I don't want the lines to slacken either, the threadpaying out over the side, enough rope to hang ourselves.
I was sitting in the library writing this to Louise, looking at a facsimile ofan illuminated manuscript, the first letter a huge L. The L woven into shapes ofbirds and angels that slid between the pen lines. The letter was a maze. On theoutside, at the top of the L, stood a pilgrim in hat and habit. At the heart ofthe letter, which had been formed to make a rectangle out of the double ofitself, was the Lamb of God. How would the pilgrim try through the maze, themaze so simple to angels and birds? I tried to fathom the path for a long timebut I was caught at dead ends by beaming serpents. I gave up and shut the book,forgetting that the first word had been Love.
In the weeks that followed Louise and I were together as much as we could be.She was careful with Elgin, I was careful with both of them. The carefulness waswearing us out.
One night, after a seafood lasagne and a bottle of champagne we made love sovigorously that the Lady's Occasional was driven across the floor by the turbineof our lust. We began by the window and ended by the door. It's well-known thatmolluscs are aphrodisiac, Casanova ate his mussels raw before pleasuring a ladybut then he also believed in the stimulating powers of hot chocolate.
Articulacy of fingers, the language of the deaf and dumb, signing on the bodybody longing. Who taught you to write in blood on my back? Who taught you to useyour hands as branding irons? You have scored your name into my shoulders,referenced me with your mark. The pads of your fingers have become printingblocks, you tap a message on to my skin, tap meaning into my body. Your morsecode interferes with my heart beat. I had a steady heart before I met you, Irelied upon it, it had seen active service and grown strong. Now you alter itspace with your own rhythm, you play upon me, drumming me taut.
Written on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; theaccumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavilyworked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled up awayfrom prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn't knowthat Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book.
We tried to be quiet for Elgin's sake. He had arranged to be out but Louisethought he was at home. In silence and in darkness we loved each other and as Itraced her bones with my palm I wondered what time would do to skin that was sonew to me. Could I ever feel any less for this body? Why does ardour pass? Timethat withers you will wither me. We will fall like ripe fruit and roll down thegrass together. Dear friend, let me lie beside you watching the clouds until theearth covers us and we are gone.
Elgin was at breakfast the following morning. This was a shock. He was as paleas his shirt. Louise slid into her place at the foot of the long table. I tookup a neutral position about half way. I buttered a slice of toast and bit. Thenoise vibrated the table. Elgin winced.
'Do you have to make so much noise?'
'Sorry Elgin,' I said, spattering the cloth with crumbs.
Louise passed me the teapot and smiled.
'What are you so happy about?' said Elgin. 'You didn't get any sleep either.'
'You told me you were away until today,' said Louise quietly.
'I came home. It's my house. I paid for it.'
'It's our house and I told you we'd be here last night.'
'I might as well have slept in a brothel.'
'I thought that's what you were doing,' said Louise.
Elgin got up and threw his napkin on the table. 'I'm exhausted but I'm going towork. Lives depend on my work and because of you I shall not be at my besttoday. You might think of yourself as a murderer.'
'I might but I shan't,' said Louise.
We heard Elgin clatter his mountain bike out of the hall. Through the basementwindow I saw him strap on his pink helmet. He liked cycling, he thought it wasgood for his heart. Louise was lost in thought. I drank two cups of tea,washed up and was thinking of going home when she put her arms around me frombehind and rested her chin on my shoulder.
'This isn't working,' she said.
Continues...
Excerpted from Written on the Bodyby Jeanette Winterson Copyright ©1994 by Jeanette Winterson. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : Vintage (February 1, 1994)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0679744479
- ISBN-13 : 978-0679744474
- Item Weight : 6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.19 x 0.48 x 7.96 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #76,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #94 in LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction (Books)
- #848 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #6,025 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jeanette Winterson, OBE (born 27 August 1959) is an award-winning English writer, who became famous with her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against conventional values. Some of her other novels have explored gender polarities and sexual identity. Winterson is also a broadcaster and a professor of creative writing.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Mariusz Kubik, http://www.mariuszkubik.pl [Attribution, GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
This review is my full and honest opinion after testing and examining all aspects of this product in my own home, for my own use. My goal in reviewing products is to help others, like you, in their search for the best products on Amazon. If I give the product a five star review, that means that I am extremely happy with the product. Five stars means that the product has gone beyond and above my expectations and I would have paid/will pay in the future the full price plus shipping for this product. I will definitely continue to purchase five star products for myself as well as recommend them to my friends and family. Four stars: If I give the product four stars, this means that I really like the product and I have found a good use for it. The product function as intended and serves it's purpose well. It is likely that I would purchase this product again in the future. Three stars: If I rate a product at three stars, that means that I am satisfied with the product, but I do not believe it is the best in its product area, therefore I would definitely search for other products within that area the next time I purchase. Two Stars: If I give the product two stars, that means that i am not impressed. I would not purchase the product again. There maybe elements of the product that are not exactly defective, but are not desirable. One Star: If I give the product one star, I am unsatisfied with the product/does not work/it is defective. I would definitely not purchase this product again.
It you like heady thoughts and well-written stories, this is, in my opinion, one of her best.
I bought two copies. One, years ago, when it was first published. It's well read, dog eared, filled with notes and page markers. One I keep pristine so I can always read it anew. I get something different from it each time. Each time it shakes me, deeply. Sometimes I get a good laugh, sometimes I open a deep bleeding gash.
A Russian translator speaks about the preoccupation that this person has with women -- a series of women, until Louise comes into this person's life, transforming it forever. Their Love Story is beautifully detailed and lovingly chronicled in heartstopping prose. This writer can create unforgettable paragraphs. Her book is refreshingly put together, and she has used abundant creativity in constructing loving passages, one after another, written on the body -- or rather about the body, and the protagonist's insatiable longing for Louise.
Poignant, pensive, and beautiful -- this book is a joy. The Love Story is magical and wondrous and makes one's heart flutter to read about it. I shall treasure my memories of it. Highly recommended!
When the novel actually develops a plot, Winterson’s power wanes. She is not as adept at telling a story as outlining the landscape of human desire. So the end comes with a plop. After some gorgeous prose, we are treated to a happy conclusion that brings little joy.
Top reviews from other countries
Written on the body is about a genderless narrator being in love with a married woman. The writing is experimental, brave and almost poetry like prose - to dedicate an ode to the lover's cells, tissues, systems and cavities of body.
The narrator sucks you into a black hole of questions, bigger questions about happiness, a wonderland of love, life and loss. "People usually know exactly why they are happy. They very rarely know why they are miserable.”
About contentment, misery and a particular numbness when there's no excitement. "Contentment is a feeling you say? Are you sure it's not an absense of feeling? I like itt to that particular numbness one gets after a visit to the dentist. Not in pain nor out of it, slightly drugged."
About the shell of a marriage, it's exhibitory public display and a see-saw of fidelity and adultery. "Odd that marriage, a public display and free to all, gives way to that most secret of liaisons, an adulterous affair."
I struggled with the hopeless, self-pitying love-sickness of the narrator and over laboured language. Not recommended for people who dislike poetry, stream of consciousness writing and limerence.
If you end up reading it- Surrender to the narrator, for it's an unexpected style of storytelling but it stays true to it's plot.
The book is extremely well written, 'personal' (if we can call the 'work' of a fictional narrator such a word) and really does the job that Jeanette Winterson intended - I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by her on the novel, amongst other things, and it gave great insight into just why she wrote the way she wrote. Experimental was the main word I took away from it.
The strangest plot twist comes right at the end, but I shan't give that away - read for yourself (the English edition, if possible, as in translation it does lose some of its mystery) - highly recommended!











