Discovering the acclaimed author's lesser-known works in the Library collections.
Jeanette Winterson is an established novelist, children's writer, journalist and academic. In 1986 she had been a writer for under a year and was engaged in the difficult task of trying to earn a living with her pen.
She had got off to a stellar start in 1985 with her first novel 'Oranges are not the only fruit', which won the Whitbread Prize for a first novel and was an instant success. It would be adapted into an award winning BBC TV drama in 1990 and become a set-text at A Level, and is now regarded as a classic.
At only 24 Winterson was an unusually prolific young writer. She published her second novel 'Boating for beginners' in 1985 only three months after her first. Much less well known than her first novel, Winterson now lists it separately from her other books and calls it a 'comic book'. It retells the story of Noah and the Flood in an irreverent style, and was written by Winterson in three weeks prior to the publication of 'Oranges'. Completely different in tone and following on so quickly from her debut, it confounded both critics and readers.
If 'Boating for beginners' was unexpected, her next book 'Fit for the future' could have only furthered the confusion for those following Winterson's career. Her publisher, Pandora Press, also published handbooks for women, so Winterson, a long time keep-fit enthusiast, wrote a fitness book for the imprint in 1986. Subtitled 'The guide for women who want to live well', the front cover is a photograph of three women stretching and warming up around a park bench. To the left of the photograph is Vicky Licorish who Jeanette had met whilst they were both studying at St Catherine's College, Oxford University. Winterson is northern, working class and a lesbian; Licorish is black, working class and the daughter of immigrants from St Lucia.
In an interview with the Guardian in 2007 Winterson remembered a tutor saying to them: 'You are the black experiment, and you are the working-class experiment'. In 1986 Licorish was an actor and presenter hosting 'Saturday Superstore' and appearing in a Leonard-Rossiter-fronted sitcom 'Tripper's day'. She is now an established television producer with credits that include adaptions of 'Vanity Fair' and 'Small island'. The two are still friends and Winterston is godparent to Licorish's daughters. In the middle of the picture on the front cover, in a black singlet and red track suit bottoms, is Winterson.
Winterston was adopted and brought up as a Pentecostal Christian in Accrington and was a successful preacher and evangelist for the church from a young age. She left both her faith and her childhood home at sixteen but she remained something of an evangelist as shown by chapter one of 'Fit for the future'. It begins 'You owe it to yourself to be beautiful. You should write this phrase on the wall over your bed, in the bathroom, in your diary, on your babies' bib, in your computer programme … Most important of all believe it'. The book is a passionate sermon addressed to women who want to live well.
Although Winterson's personality shines through in almost every sentence 'Fit for the future' is, as you would expect of a handbook, a practical work. The message of the book is that a fit body will give you increased confidence and control in all areas of your life. The book starts with a short chapter 'Body politic' which outlines the author's fitness philosophy. 'You need a revolution in your life which starts with falling in love with yourself which means you will do the best for yourself and get the best for yourself'.
Martin Luther is quoted a little more than you might expect in a keep-fit book
Chapter two, 'Being there', is Winterson's guide to getting and staying fit. As well as visiting the gym it advises you to invest in a full-length mirror. You must look at yourself in this mirror and decide if you like what you see and if you don't, change it. Chapter three covers food and drink or 'fuel and junk'. As you might expect, chips will no longer be playing a big part in your life and you will be saying goodbye to deep-fried Camembert. You are advised to upgrade the alcohol you drink. If you are partial to wine buy champagne or a quality Chablis, not supermarket plonk. The extra cost means you won't drink so much. Her interest in food and drink continues. In 2005 she opened a delicatessen in the ground floor of her Spitalfields townhouse 'Verde & Co' although sadly it had to close in 2015 due to a hike in business rates.
Chapter four, 'Good and at bad at games' covers sport and although the book remains practical the style will be recognisable to readers of Winterson's literary works. A section on balance begins 'Women have a lower centre of gravity than men much as do powerful motorbikes'. A section on swimming is called 'Water on the brain' and starts 'Women and water is a powerful combination'. Martin Luther is quoted a little more than you might expect in a keep-fit book.
The 1980s is often regarded as an aspirational decade, propelled by laissez-faire capitalism and where surface appearance was as or more important than substance. Winterson's early career and 'Fit for the future' shows that these forces were at play in all areas of British life, not just mainstream culture, but also in feminism and the literary world. The book, with its emphasis on self-reinvention, personal appearance and its advice to ditch cheap wine and buy champagne, is in many ways as representative of the decade as the similarly themed 'Jane Fonda's Workout Book' published in 1981.
After an accidently rather than wilfully eccentric start, Winterson's career would take a more conventional course for the rest of the decade. Her much anticipated 'proper' second novel 'The Passion' was published in 1987 by Bloomsbury and its success allowed Winterson to become a full-time writer. Bloomsbury would also publish her third novel 'Sexing the cherry' in 1989. 'Written on the body' (1992) was published by Jonathan Cape, widely viewed as the premier publisher of literary fiction in the UK.
If you want to find out more about Jeannette Winterson you can read her bestselling memoir from 2011 'Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?' If you want to get into the head of the young Jeanette Winterson and get an idea of her views on food, drink, exercise and sport you need to read 'Fit for the future'. You will also discover that her favourite food is spinach.
