A Kynical View on Corporeality: Jeanette Winterson’s Non-Philosophy in "Written on the Body"

Abstract

: Science-fiction writers tend to side either with the flesh, holding that “ all is body/matter, ” or with the machine, believing that “ all is mind, ” and these two divergent perspectives translate into either a protectionist or an accelerationist attitude. They can, however, be seen as interpenetrating agencements (Charles T. Wolfe), as is the case of Donna Haraway ’ s “ cyborg ” as an emerging political form, especially in feminist science-fiction works. Jeanette Winterson ’ s novels may seem to slowly turn away from the flesh since Written on the Body , from Gut Symmetries to The PowerBook and The Stone Gods . The present paper aims to suggest that what Written on the Body expresses is the heightening of kynicism (Peter Sloterdijk) towards both the flesh and the machine, all while rejecting cynical reason. The novel offers the reader an ec-static understanding of desire and loss, as well as the possibility of spiritual rather than spiritualist sans-philosophie (François Laruelle).