Written On The Body

Written on the Body is a short novel by British author Jeanette Winterson. Several international publications followed the original 1992 publication of the book. The text, which is a first-person narrative, is directed at an adult reading audience. The narrative, which presents accounts of numerous love affairs, also ruminates on the nature of love, fidelity, spirituality, and death. Winterson, who was raised by members of a Pentecostal Church, trained as a missionary and started to evangelize and write sermons at an early age. Although she left this religious sect as a teenager, her background likely explains the various Biblical allusions found throughout the text.

Plot Summary

An anonymous narrator, whose gender the author does not identify, tells the story of a passionate love affair with a beautiful, red-haired woman named Louise Rosenthal. Louise is married to an eminent cancer research physician, Elgin Rosenthal, who disappointed Louise when he gave up his dreams of aiding people in Third World countries to pursue more lucrative pharmaceutical studies. Elgin’s career decision is an important plot device that grows in significance when Louise is discovered to be suffering from leukemia, a cancer of the blood.