Grief As Ritual, Tradition As an Altar in Hamnet and Leaving the Old Gods
Grief porn’ is, without question, one of the most bizarre phrases that has populated the 2020s. In recent months, the phrase has found itself regurgitated on social media when referring to Chloe Zhao’s recent film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet.
J.A.G. MABBUTT
The Edited Self in A Single Man and 'Saraband'
J.A.G. MABBUTT
In both ‘Saraband’ and A Single Man, survival is framed not as triumph but as negotiation. McCullers’ imperative to “select,” “edit,” and “adjust” finds visual embodiment in George’s careful self-curation, a life lived in quiet modulation to avoid social violence.
When the past does not stay in the past — Celeste Mohammed’s Ever Since We Small
BOOK OF THE MONTH | MILLIE HARRIS
Jayanti is a young widow in India, expected to burn on her husband’s funeral pyre. This ending for her would mean that she burns, the family would mourn, Jayanti would be seen as a pious sacrifice, and the community would move on with its sense of order intact. Yet, as she embarks on that path, something changes.
Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s search for Caribbean poetry
MÓNICA FERNÁNDEZ JIMÉNEZ
In postcolonial lands, there is a strange and delicate balance between literary theory and literary production, a battlefield as fraught as the relationship between nationalism and literature. Before Postmodernism, one might have claimed that literature comes first, and that the literary historian simply recorded what they saw. Today, we are not so naive as to believe intellectual production does not influence the words of authors. Is the nationalist agenda, especially in once-colonised countries, a prescriptivist hindrance to authentic production or a mobilising creative force?
Control and Fanaticism in Purple Hibiscus
JOCELYN HOWARTH
Strong and moving, Purple Hibiscus is a tale that encapsulates the deep-rooted divisions caused by colonisation, religious fanaticism, and domestic violence through the eyes of a young girl gradually nearing adulthood.
Why I Have a Tattoo of James Joyce
J.A.G. MABBUTT
Isn’t life just as rough as Joyce’s prose? Isn’t life sewn together with vague references to otherwise nonsensical topics? I have a tattoo of James Joyce on my arm. No shame. No embarrassment. Just me, declaring to the world that I adore James Joyce and his work.
Cheese, Submarines, and the Shadow of Fascism: “Stay On The Move”
INÉS PARIS
I became a Pynchon fan when I first read The Crying of Lot 49 and witnessed a friend at university absolutely despise it, to the point of visible anger. I found this reaction delicious. Pynchon is that kind of writer: a litmus test.
Desire, longing and dreams in Queer and 'Love and Sleep'
J.A.G. MABBUTT
Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem, 'Love and Sleep', and Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film, Queer, both explore longing as something that thrives in fantasy rather than reality. In each work, desire retreats into dreams when reciprocity fails, transforming love into projection and comfort into obsession.
'I Kicked A Mushroom', The Green Knight and human transgression
J.A.G. MABBUTT
A comparative piece focusing on the human transgression - which is, more often than not, aggressive - in Simon Armitage's poem I Kicked a Mushroom and the film The Green Knight.
Hamnet wants to break your heart. Does it earn it?
MILLIE HARRIS
The book was instantly acclaimed and praised as O’Farrell’s finest work to date, celebrated for its historical intimacy and named among the most notable books of 2020. It is a story on how one of the greatest works in the English canon, Hamlet, might have been derived from such a truly heartbreaking and life-changing experience.
Scent, possession, and death
JOCELYN HOWARTH
Patrick Süskind's Perfume imagines a world in which everyone is only using a small fraction of their nose’s purpose, while the protagonist, Grenouille, can identify every note in even the most complex of perfumes, can track people through the streets of Paris, and even know how many people are in a room purely through the use of his nose. It is a superpower, but for Grenouille it is also a curse.
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Depression, Chaos, and Clarity in Melancholia and Coney Island of the Mind 8
Do depressed people react better to disaster? Do they inhabit a calmness that is lacking in others? Is judgment day just another day in the calendar of someone who is possessed by melancholy? These questions orbited Lars Von Trier’s head enough for him to make a movie that offers us some answers.
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Keeping the written word alive also means rethinking whose words we uplift. We are massively dedicated to decolonising your bookshelves — amplifying underrepresented voices, challenging dominant narratives and celebrating stories that have been overlooked for way too long.
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Our magazine subscription runs both annual or quarterly depending on your preference. You'll get four delicious print issues of Zimmer Magazine delivered to your doorstep without all the hassle. Thanks for being here.
Heidi Kewin
🇬🇧 Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Vincent Zimmer
🇩🇪 Founder & Managing Director