Abstract
This article is concerned with a specific canon, i.e. that of romance as defined by the British and American traditions. It starts from a brief survey of the traditional definitions of romance as a mode the better to concentrate on contemporary refractions of the canon as exemplified in Jeanette Winterson’s fiction in general and in The PowerBook in particular. Refraction is taken here in its etymological acceptation, i.e. “to break”. Starting from this basis, the article develops into an exploration of Wintersonian romance as a way of breaking the canon open, of breaking away from it so as to achieve an ethical breakthrough, ultimately. In other words, this article is concerned with a central paradox in Winterson’s oeuvre: her refringent use of canonical romance and its escapist, emotional, cloying characteristics so as to transform romance into a tool of ethical investigation and prescription. The notion of ethics used in the following lines is taken from Emmanuel Levinas’ definition of the “ethical relation”.
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