Toni Morrison’s Praise of Writer’s Block

MILLIE HARRIS

The Chronicles of Persepolis: On Iran and Ideology

Sergios Saropoulos

Why I Have a Tattoo of James Joyce

J.A.G. MABBUTT | LITERATURE

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.

When the past does not stay in the past — Celeste Mohammed’s Ever Since We Small

MILLIE HARRIS | BOOK OF THE MONTH

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.

Cause of Death: British Colonialism and a Bottle of Antifreeze

JOCELYN HOWARTH | REVIEWS

Nina McConigley's How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is a novel that does exactly what it says on the tin. Never has a title been more apt, nor more effective in surmising plot. It is punchy, bold, honest; a tone which continues throughout the novel. It is raw and vulnerable and, like any good murder story, studies the why just as much as the what.

Control and Fanaticism in Purple Hibiscus

JOCELYN HOWARTH | REVIEWS

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 Do We Walk Away From Suffering?

HEIDI KEWIN | LITERATURE

You can leave the theatre, but the suffering will still continue. Sarah Kane’s Blasted (1995) asks what turning away really costs us.  

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 | A POET AT THE PICTURES

Desire, longing and dreams in Queer and 'Love and Sleep'

J.A.G. MABBUTT | A POET AT THE PICTURES

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. 

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