Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

by Jeanette Winterson

Perception, she said was a fraud; had not St Paul said we see in a glass darkly, had not Wordsworth said we see by glimpses? ‘This piece of fruit cake’ – she waved it between bites – ‘this cake doesn’t need me to eat it to make it edible. It exists without me.’ That was a bad example, but I knew what she meant. It meant that to create was a fundament, to appreciate, a supplement.

People like to separate storytelling which is not fact from history which is fact. They do this so that they know what to believe and what not to believe. This is very curious. How is it that no one will believe that the whale swallowed Jonah when every day Jonah is swallowing the whale?

Some people think you can have your cake and eat it. The cake goes mouldy and they choke on what’s left.

There are many forms of love and affection, some people can spend their whole lives together without knowing each other’s names. Naming is a difficult and time-consuming process; it concerns essences, and it means power. But on the wild nights who can call you home? Only the one who knows your name.