Book Review: Written on the Body

Written on the Body presents a story of an unnamed, un-gendered narrator as he or she recounts the passion that is felt for the person that he or she is madly in love with, Louise. The story tells a detailed account of the feeling of love and remorse that the narrator has as he or she falls in love with Louise and then a sense of loss that the narrator has upon the loss of the love between the two.  The narrator expresses sentiments that everyone who has ever been head-over-heels in love and then had those feelings taken away from them feels.  The emotional rollercoaster and physiology of love that the narrator expresses throughout the story depict a portrayal of how many feel about those that once loved them back but have since moved on.  In this manner, the narrator constantly makes references to Louise’s body parts.  Each scar, scratch, grey hair, or basic anatomical structure is noted and given a recount by the narrator. The description that the narrator gives shows just how the physical makeup of an individual plays a tremendous role in the life of those that are closest to that person.  The constant use of references to Louise’s body parts serves as a means for the narrator to express his or her complete and utter devotion and shows the reader that even the most subtle physical distinctions of one’s body can have their own story and special place within someone’s emotions when they are in love.

The story itself revolves around the narrator and his or her encounters with the woman Louise.  The narrator experiences one of the most passionate and consuming feelings of love for this particular individual and is consumed by the feelings that manifest from being with her.  Unfortunately, the narrator has it revealed to him or her that Louise has cancer and will not be able to survive unless the narrator leaves her and moves away, which will allow for another individual to perform treatments that cannot be bought in order to preserve her life.  Heartbroken at the concept of leaving Louise but resolved to not let her die, the narrator leaves a goodbye note and departs from Louise’s life.  The rest of the novel, the narrator spends his or her time writing passages about the wonder that was Louise, with particular interest to the anatomical terms.  This is exemplified by the fact that the narrator becomes obsessed with the anatomy textbooks available to him or her and continues to make comparisons to Louise’s own anatomical structure.

The majority of the tale is told about the narrator’s continued feelings of devotion and longing to be back with Louise.  Though she is actually married to another person, the narrator feels certain in their heart that Louise should be with him or her.  These sentiments are continually expressed in passages such as: “Love does not love Which alters when it alteration finds Or bends with the remover to remove. O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height is taken” (Winterson 169).  This is just a small taste of the way that the narrator discusses and speaks about his or her emotions that are stirred and felt when he or she is thinking about Louise.  These sentiments are further driven home by the manic depression that the narrator continually faces for having to remove himself or herself from Louise’s life, and the sentiments are also clearly displayed.

The narrator suffers the heartbreak of no longer being a part of Louise’s life almost as hard as if Louise had died of her cancer and not been around ever again.  The narrator laments the choice that he or she had to make but feels resolve in the fact that it at least provided Louise with a means to keep on living and, hopefully, be happy with her own life, somewhere.  These sentiments are captured with passages such as:

Why is the measure of love loss? It hasn't rained for three months. The trees are prospecting underground, sending reserves of roots into the dry ground, roots like razors to open any artery water-fat. The grapes have withered on the vine. What should be plump and firm, resisting the touch to give itself in the mouth, is spongy and blistered. Not this year the pleasure of rolling blue grapes between finger and thumb juicing my palm with musk. Even the wasps avoid the thin brown dribble (Winterson 9). What this shows is just how consumed the narrator has become with the state of desire and want to be a part of the life that he or she had back when Louise and himself or herself were together.

One such way that the narrator continues to show the passion felt for Louise is by writing about her body.  The use of body parts plays a significant role in the novel in both a literal and symbolic sense.  The narrator becomes relatively obsessed with anatomy once he or she gets an anatomy textbook in the house that he or she lives in after leaving Louise.  With references and pictures to actual human anatomy, the narrator begins to make specific references to the parts of Louise that he or she remembers so dearly and compares them in almost anatomical terms mixed with the love and passion that he or she feels still for Louise.  

Some of the literal references made by the narrator are a means of showing the longing and desire that he or she still feels for Louise.  This is given detailed accounts that note both the anatomical features of an area but make a connection to the emotional connect that the narrator feels the two share.  Statements are made such as, “I began a voyage down her spine, the cobbled road of hers that brought me to a cleft and a damp valley then a deep pit to drown in” (Winterson 82).  The audience sees the knowledge of the anatomy textbook has come into use at noting the physical makeup of Louise’s anatomy, but we also see the passion and emotion that have been added to the feature of a person that is not usually considered to be a place of great importance to the body or the mind.  It is through the more symbolic examples of Louise’s physical appearance that the narrator demonstrates his or her true feelings of desire, devotion, and longing for Louise to return to his or her life.

The symbolic importance of the body is of greater importance to the narrator even when compared to the physical nature of the relationship that he or she had with Louise.  The concept of being physically together but bridging an emotional gap is summed up in the passage, “will explore you and mine you and you will redraw me according to your will. We shall cross one another's boundaries and make ourselves one nation” (Winterson 20).  What this shows the audience is that for all of the mention to the physical attraction that the narrator has for Louise (and even though they are opposites), it is the emotional connection that is the most important still.  That explains greatly why the mention of the hands of Louise is of particular importance to the narrator.  

It is through the simple act of holding one’s hand that individuals can experience one of the most powerful emotional connections.  This unspoken act creates in it a bond that is shared and felt by both individuals that link the two together for as long as the contact is maintained.  It creates a sense of unity and trust between the individuals and the narrator draws upon this emotion.  Whenever speaking of Louise’s hands, the narrator will note the smallest, seemingly most insignificant detail, which shows the complete and all-encompassing sense of consuming that the narrator has for her.  The small scar that she obtained from touching the hot stove, the softness, or the moisture is mentioned and the physical makeup of her hands are given extreme amounts of detail.  It further drives home the concept that the symbolic nature of the relationship between Louise and the narrator is not entirely based on the more intimate physical contact such as with a kiss but is shown in the unspoken, trusting manner that those in love can share with something as simple as holding one’s hand.  

Based upon this notion, the game board that was designed takes into account several of the driving forces of the novel in order to create an environment that the individual player must first come to understand before they can play and have any hope of succeeding.  The game has important concepts such as the twisting, uncertain nature of love put into its play, as players can be shifted from moving forwards to backward at a moment’s notice and are subjected to asking spontaneous questions that are based upon the smallest detail that an individual would only really pay attention to if they were in love such as the narrator is for Louise.  The game is a testament to the uncertain, surprise ending that can sometimes come from a loving relationship as with the narrator and Louise.  The narrator is left to a surprise ending in his or her own way by being reintroduced to a paler, thinner Louise, which leaves the reader to questions as to what has transpired in her life and where will the two’s relationship go from here, and the same idea is, in a sense, translated to the game and its surprise ending for the players.

The novel Written on the Body shows the consuming nature that love can have on an individual.  The narrator of this tale gives the reader the full experience of following an individual that has been completely stricken by love and let it take over every aspect of his or her life.  The narrator’s devotion and desire for Louise manifest itself in both the physical want of her and that of the emotional connection that the narrator cannot let go of that had existed between the two.  The novel shows the how love can make a person obsessive on the smallest of details and is exemplified in the way that the narrator can recount entire tales about Louise based on the smallest physical detail such as a mole or a scar.  It is through the story that the audience gains a sense of the uncertainty that can be a driving factor in one’s love life, and for this reason, the designed game encompasses this concept into its gameplay.  The player is given a set of random cards that dictates the actions, movements, and, generally, the way in which the player is able to play the game.  The uncertainty of the novel, such as with the lack of gender given to the narrator, is further displayed in the game as players can move forward and backward as their end goal shifts with events that unfold during the play of the game.  As shown in Written on the Body, sometimes the future of love can be unknown and uncertain, but dwelling in the past of what has transpired will do nothing but make it harder to move on and continue to live one’s life.  It is only through living in the moment, can a person be able to fully reach where their end goal, whatever it may be.  

Work Cited

Winterson, Jeanette. Written on the Body. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1992.