Allan Hollinghurst's "The Swimming-Pool Library" and Jeanette Winterson's novel "Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit" has a lot in common from a homosexual point-of-view. The two titles have symbolic meaning through the books, although they represent opposite views on homosexuality: Hollinghurst's gay Winterson's lesbian world-view. Both titles of these books has a very significant meaning and presented as symbols in connection with their view on sexuality, either gay or lesbian. The functions of these titles do not only set the themes of the books, as the reader would normally expect, but the titles itself also keeps the reader alert, draws more of the spectator's attention to the key facts appeared in the titles. The authors would like us to search continuously for the symbols of swimming-pool, library and oranges thus forcing the viewers spend more time thinking of the novelists' symbolic depiction of homosexuality.
The first part of this essay I will explore the motifs of both the swimming-pool and the library with their relation to each other thus supporting my view on the specific meanings they carry in the novel.
Jeanette Winterson (b. 1959), British writer
Jeanette Winterson (b. 1959), British writer
Jeanette Winterson (b.1959), British writerThe second part of my essay I will observe the symbol of the orange and how it is represented in the book in relation to lesbianism.
The swimming-pool occurs in Hollinghurst's novel right in the beginning. The gay hero of the fiction is William Beckwith, who talks about the Corinthian Club, or Corry, where many gays are going to work on their bodies and meet with each other. This is an underground world for homosexual meetings. As a matter of fact, almost all the characters in the novel are going to this club, this is an ideal place for them to meet with each other. They often go with Arthur, William's current lover,