Sexing the Winterson

[Eric]

I went to a talk this evening by Jeanette Winterson and was pleasantly surprised. While recently reading "Gut Symmetries" I did on occasions find the text jumped about rather a lot. but Winterson's talk, in front of an audience of about 500-700 (at my very rough estimate), was a straightforward, coherent and humorous performance, not least given the rather staid nature of that audience.

She dealt in a pretty sincere way with sexuality, love, drinking, life and death, and certainly did not dodge issues. The interviewer rather unkindly dredged up an early book of hers from 1985. I wasn't sure whether this "revelation" was scripted, but she handled it well. And she was quite blunt, as Northerners tend mercifully to be. So no set piece smarming of the audience, a little flattery at most. And she described her working rhythms and ways.

The venue was better than with the Tokarczuk talk, which was in a somewhat noisy and bustling cafe. This time, we were in a proper and serious lecture hall, though in the same building. Given the size of the audience, this was necessary.

Most of the audience were women, but a few men could be seen here and there. A successful evening on the whole.

[Eric]

A review by Amelie Bj?rk in yesterday's issue of the Swedish daily G?teborgs Posten reveals that the reviewer is not impressed with [the recent Swedish translation of] "The Stone Gods":

The beginning's OK, says the reviewer, but:



With the excitement of a ten-year-old, Winterson commits all the cardinal mistakes of the sci-fi genre. She sprays out facts about new brave parking systems and DNA manipulation and it is all just as unstructured and embarrassing as it sounds. (...)

Certain parts sound as if the translator had difficulty not to nod off. (...)

For the reader who wants to keep Jeanette Winterson among their favourite authors it will not help to read the book in the English original version. Better to wait for her next book.

Not too positive.