Trans-Subjectivation through Temporality: Catherine Malabou’s Plasticity in Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry

The present paper means to attentively scrutinize the notion of plasticity in temporality and time in Sexing the Cherry and represent the innate temporality in trans-subjectivation which could be regarded as plasticity. In Malabouean perspective, plasticity enables humans to transform their identity and mental structures based on their life experiences and environmental influences. The attempt would be the manifestation of malleable time and identity which unavoidably could be intermingled with the concepts of mind and memory. Contemplating on the conceptualization of plasticity as revealing the relation between accident and substance, plasticity in time, identity formation, and memory would be lime lighted. Temporality as absolute plasticity would be demonstrated while trans-subjectivation and plasticity would be considered as the two faces of a coin. Brain and therefore identity as the incarnation of time and temporality in body express themselves in the novel in which the boundaries of temporality and identity appear blurring. In Winterson’s novel, Sexing the Cherry, time is transformed, broken, and redefined as a fluid and changeable entity. The notion of the other as the other of the self in the self would be labeled as alterity without transcendence in Catherine Malabou’s stance due to the fact that the other is permanently within the subject. Consequently, alterity without transcendence would be presented as the vital and significant part of plasticity without which the process of plasticity and trans-subjectivation would be flawed. Malabou considers plasticity as representing the brain’s fundamental abilities to change and adapt to new situations, which have major implications for our understanding of identity, authority, and responsibility. Background of Study: Seetha Lakshmi in “The Myth of Normative Gender” claims that “Jeanette Winterson is one of the daring voices among postmodern queer writers whose works celebrate gender fluidity and queer existence. Winterson abundantly alludes to myths and fairytales as vehicles to express the notion that gender also is constructed like a story or history and it is thus not fixed” (2018: 489). Mentioning the hetero-normative society and the obligatory prearranged gender roles in it, Lakshmi adds that Winterson’s characters in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Sexing the Cherry struggle to go beyond the pre-established standards.
Methodology: The present study provides a close analysis which consists of selection and discussion of theoretical and descriptive material. The research method of the existing research is, thus, qualitative and categorized as theoretical study. Correspondingly, the existing research will be entirely literature-based in that, in the academic library research, the conclusions are based on the analysis of data of a particular area. The narrators’ definition of time and their contemplation on temporality would be underscored to express the Malabouian viewpoint on the notion of time. Temporality as the absolute plasticity which could be interwoven with the concept of trans-subjectivation would be featured in the novel and the physical manifestation of trans-subjectivation would be stressed in the relationship between the characters as each other’s alter ego, as well.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that the narrator in Sexing the Cherry expresses the trans-subjectivity via contemplating on the plasticity of temporality. Not being able to distinguish the distinct boundaries of subjectivity, temporality, locality, and reality, the narrator addresses that the plasticity of temporality embraces all of them. Pondering on time and temporality, the narrator ends up mentioning the equality of the happened and not-happened owing to the fact that whatever has happened is merely a memory which could not be discernible from fantasy. Observing diverse layers of being, the narrator juxtaposes narration and reality, as well.