Exposing Ambiguity: The Literary Expression of Jeanette Winterson’s Anti-Essentialist Philosophy

Abstract

This study examines literature's function in philosophical thinking. In order to do so the thesis focuses on Jeanette Winterson's oeuvre and the philosophical function of this author's work. Literature is able to express philosophical ideas in ways that are not open to writers of manifestos and treatises. Among other literary mechanisms, fiction's ability to expose instead of describe plays a large part in literature's thinking. I discuss four of Winterson's novels in relation to four themes, and show that her work is characterized by a philosophy of anti-essentialism which could not have been expressed through anything other than fiction.