PHOTO SAM CHURCHILL
Jeanette Winterson’s latest novel is the first in a series of eight reimaginings of Shakespeare by popular novelists, timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. A couple of chapters into her reworking of The Winter’s Tale, we find her version of jealous, paranoid King Leontes in bed with his best friend Xeno, wondering aloud whether or not Elvis was gay. By this point, if you hadn’t already, you realise you’re not in Sicilia any more. Set after the financial crash, and featuring many potent symbols of modern life – city bankers, video games, girl groups – Winterson’s novel picks up Shakespeare’s romance-slash-problem play, and, alert to the many gaps in that source text, runs with it.
“There’s a lot of anxiety around the idea of what’s original,” Winterson says when I ask what appeals to her about cover versions. “And in fact, what’s original is what you do with what already exists. It’s not about ‘has this thing ever been thought before, or talked about before or rendered to the public before?’, because the answer is ‘of course it has’ but it’s how you bring things forward and reshape them for generations. The big questions are always there,“ she adds. “People always worry about who they love, will they be betrayed, will they go into exile; none of that ever changes.” In The Winter’s Tale, she says, nothing is explained by Shakespeare. “At no stage can we see inside the motives, the minds of the characters.” It seemed obvious to her that she needed to go into those gaps to tell the story.