After watching the interview “An Evening with Jeannette Winterson,” I felt enlightened, more knowledgeable of the real meaning of life. Winterson uses self-experience and humor to discuss what she believes to be real humanity, and it resonates. It’s captivating. So, what does it mean to be human? According to Winterson, “all of it is about connection, we live in a web, one with another.” She expresses the necessity of self-acceptance as a part of successfully integrating ourselves with society and we need to be supportive of each other.
She goes on to say that “our inner lives don’t work according to the clock, or the calendar or to any received chronology. That’s not how it is. Our psychic processes are indifferent to time. When we remember things we don’t remember them in sequence, we remember according to the emotional significance of the memory and that can be random and it can change and shift over time too….[memories] force you to reconsider the whole picture which is perhaps what we’re meant to do.” Is Winterson correct? Is self-reflection and self-acceptance a key to our humanity?
Furthermore, Winterson discussed the importance of literature and keeping language and text alive in our society. She asks, “where has the sacred gone? We can’t find language for that anymore…The place that we know exists, we find it in our dreams, our imaginations, within ourselves.” Since we can’t find language for that anymore, Winterson tells us that we can find that in other people’s writing, texts that other people have written because “we need to reclaim those things back for ourselves.” Those things she was referring to is the soul, the spirit, things incredibly crucial to our own humanity as it will reflect how we relate to the humanity of others. Yes, it’s very difficult being honest with ourselves and with other people but we absolutely have to be honest. Winterson explains:
“Truth for anybody is a very complex thing. What lies beyond the margin of the text? There are so many things we can’t say because they are too painful and we hope that the things that we can say will soothe the rest. Or appease it in some way. Stories are compensatory. The world is unfair, unjust, unknowable, out of control. When we tell a story we exercise control but in such a way as to leave a gap, an opening. It’s a version but never the final one. We hope the silences will be heard by someone else and the story will continue and will be retold. Words are the part of silence that can be spoken.”
It all goes back to Jeannette’s closing words: “all of it is about connection, we live in a web, one with another.”
hannamgilley 
April 13, 2014 at 9:37 pm
This is a great summary of her speech. I really liked what she had to say as well. One of the things that struck me was early on when she said that ‘If making art is a privilege, being human is a privilege’ . I also think that preserving text and language is important. The days of great language and prose are definitely in decline, it is essential that we continue to read and be inspired by them!
April 16, 2014 at 8:05 pm
I really connected with her speech in relatively the same way. She said so many things that went beyond a connection, rather they reminded me of something I already knew deep down. I believe this is where Winterson is right. One can make the link to self acceptance- is that inner knowing that they already have everything and know everything they’ll ever need. Literature itself is culture and culture is part of humanity, if we lose these inspirations what will remind us of this deeper human connection to one another? It must be preserved.