Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Critic Quotes

Laura Doan (1994)

Finds the realistic depiction of the lesbian ineffective, the multiple narratives proved, for her, a more promising development of Winterson's political aesthetics.

Jeanette Winterson (1985)

'Everyone who tells a story tells it differently, just to remind us that everybody sees it differently'

John Mullan (21C)

'The Bible becomes the medium through which Jeanette expresses her own strength of mind'

Jeanette Winterson (1990)

'challenges the virtues of the home, the power of the church and the supposed normality of heterosexuality'

Bruno Bettelheim (20C)

'experience cannot be explained or legitimised by a single overarching narrative'

Jeanette Winterson (20C)

'experimental novel...complicated narrative structure disguised as a simple one'

Susana Onega (20C)

'history is simply a series of individual recordings of the past, and this does at least allow for the writing of a feminine subjectivity if the narrator is a woman' Sir Perceval, Winnet and Jeanette resist 'the temptation to go back'

Adrienne Rich (20C)

All women are in some ways lesbian if they have emotional relationships with other women.

Laurel Bollinger (20C)

Claims the 'bildungsroman' has traditionally been a masculine story and is inappropriate for women. Calls 'Ruth' 'one of the 'unusual instances where the Bible depicts profound female solidarity'

Paulina Palmer (1993)

Mix of a 'bildungsroman' and the lesbian 'coming out' novel. 'the Prince's search for a flawless woman examines male ideas of femininity'

Meyer (20C)

Sees the Grail as Jeanette's 'desire to be accepted by the church'

Jan Rosemary (20C)

Suggests Jeanette's acknowledgement of the devil the church tries to exorcise from within her and 'stands for her unique and different creativity'

Gamallo (20C)

The 'bildungsroman' 'emphasised the role of storytelling in our personal and collective arrangement of experience' Title demonstrates the importance of rebellion and challenges the mother's belief that oranges are the only fruit - 'Her mother has taught her that there is only one right 'reading' and interpretation of the world, but Jeanette's answer is to contest it by writing and rewriting as many as she can'

Tess Cosslett (20C)

The Evangelical Church stands for the round table, with the mother as Arthur, while 'the Grail is clearly a successful lesbian romance' 'Gender boundaries are crossed and blurred, though not abolished'

Griffin (20C)

The mother is the 'gatekeeper' for patriarchy