Author(s): Ashley Philip

Abstract: This paper discusses how the representation of a non-gendered narrator makes it possible for the literary work to question heterosexual and patriarchal normativity in society. The blurring of gender binaries and sexual conformity in Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body will be used to explore how the text engages with the unconventional perceptions of gender to comment on the nature of the self. Within the framework of queer theory, Judith Butler’s notions of performativity, drag performance and parody, will be a useful tool to investigate the reworking of identity, that results from this This work will also take a look at how Winterson plays with stereotypical male and female identifications, appearance and behaviour in order to reconstruct gender, and also the ways in which heterosexual discourse is questioned in the novel.

Keywords: Queer theory, performativity, drag performance, gender, sexuality, Jeanette Winterson

Article Info: Received: 23 Jan 2023; Received in revised form: 22 Feb 2023; Accepted: 22 Feb 2023; Available online: 27 Feb 2023

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.81.45