The Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell: A Memoir

Hartzman’s fictional memoir is a curious publication. The book takes what historical facts are known about Cromwell’s embalmed head and introduces Hartzman’s own imagined events to provide the structure for this unusual tale. This work is dubbed a memoir because Hartzman gives consciousness to Cromwell’s lifeless head, allowing it to learn of various historical events and fashions. Cromwell’s reactions to these and ruminations on his life provide the bulk of the text. As Cromwell is an inanimate head, he has no agency and can only witness and comment, making the entire work an endeavor in supposing what the historical personage might have thought of later events. Cromwell’s strong faith is portrayed throughout, although at his reburial at last, he concludes that “whatever whispers I heard or impulses I felt were not—and could not be—of divine origin.” Other than this fictional faith journey there is little plot. Though likely not for all readers, this book will offer food for thought to those looking for an imaginative take on the historical figure. (BookLife)