TIME IN WINTERSON’S NOVELS: FEMINIZING HISTORY IN THE PASSION
TIME IN WINTERSON’S NOVELS: FEMINIZING HISTORY IN THE PASSION

Summary/Abstract: Jeanette Winterson’s novels problematize our established concept of time as linear temporality and are marked with the subjectivity of time. It can be argued that the conceptualization of time in Winterson’s fiction challenges the conventional notion of linearity and brings about the unchronological narrative of her fiction which problematizes the distinctions between past, present and future. Viewing time in such a way in her novels as to accept the simultaneity between past and present makes it possible for Winterson to reflect temporality in an alternative way, “leaving us free to ignore the boundaries of here and now and pass like lightning along the coil of pure time” (Sexing the Cherry 89-90). This paper argues that Winterson’s The Passion parodies historical temporality through mingling the historical narrative with fantasy and, rewriting history apparently with feminist concerns at stake, it attempts to deconstruct the conception of time based on the phallocentric view and to reflect female voice in the alternative history that the novel offers through crossing temporal boundaries.

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