Seeking Solid Subjectivity Versus Spotting Trans-Subjectivation in Winterson’s GUT Symmetries

The present paper intends to closely explore the process of identity formation in the characters of Jeanette Winterson’s novel Gut Symmetries in light of Catherine Malabou’s notions of plasticity, destructive plasticity or trauma, and trans-subjectivation. Identity as an inconsistent procedure of becoming would be intensely explicated in Gut Symmetries through the viewpoint of the characters, in particular Alice. Identity as a mere space or crack, which constantly provides the opportunity for the subject to observe himself/herself, could be introduced as Catherine Malabou’s notion of plasticity of the subjectivity or trans-subjectivation in the novel. The juxtaposition of the pliability of quantum physics and trans-subjectivity in the novel would be highlighted to emphasize that presence, time, identity, and even being could be nothing other than plasticity or ever-fluctuating matter and non-matter. Plasticity as the absolute nucleus of existence, identity, and love would be manifested as perceptible in the form of trans-subjectivity. Sadism as a form of destructive plasticity would be spotlighted as the death drive in the novel and it corroborates the plasticity of love, which could betransformed into hate. Spotlighting femininity as essenceless, Alice and Stella would be represented as the instances of femininity that is mutable and erratic.