- Naṣīf Falak (1954-, Iraq) – Khiḍr Qad wa al-ʿAṣr al-Zaytūnī (‘Khiḍr Qad and the drab olive years’, 2008). Using dark humor (such as the description of ‘Amputation Workshops’ for those wanting to avoid inscription), this novel paints a gruesome picture of Iraq in the decades of the Baʿath regime, the Iran- Iraq war, and the Gulf War (reference). Its main character is Khiḍr Qad, a graduate of Baghdad’s Art Academy who deserts the Iran- Iraq war, flees to Iran, and lives in hiding until he eventually to returns to Iraq when Saddam issues amnesty to all the deserters, where he meets his death in the Shia uprisings of 1991 (reference). The ‘drab olive’ in the title of the book refers to the color of the official Baʿath uniform (also 1980 – 1988 Iran Iraq War).
- Jamāl al-Ghīṭānī (1945 – 2015, Egypt) – Mutūn al-Aharām (1994, English trans. Pyramid Texts, 2007). This novel, which depicts a mood of disillusionment following the 1991 Gulf War, employs aspects of the maqāmāt tradition (reference). It is built in the shape of a pyramid: containing fourteen individual sections that become steadily shorter, its last section being a blank page with repeating the word ‘nothing’ three times. The novel uses the pyramids in Egypt as a center point to symbolize truth and intellect, two elements that each of its narrators aims to obtain. Through their search, the narrators confront the relativity of truth, which, just like the pyramids, depends on perspective (also in L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Classic Arabic Literature: Maqāmāt).
- Nuhā al-Rāḍī (1941-2004, Iraq) – Yawmiyyāt Baghdād (1998, English trans. Baghdad Diaries: A Woman’s Chronicle of War and Exile, 2003). Covering the timespan between 1991 and 2003, this memoir chronicles life in Baghdad during the 42 days of the first Gulf War and the embargo that was imposed on Iraq from 1991 onward, documenting the daily endurance of Iraqis, especially women (reference). The novel looks at the domestic life of Iraqis and includes accounts of the war being reported by outsiders. It offers names to the victims of the US-led raids and bombings that targeted the city’s infrastructure, factories, and homes, and criticizes the war and sanctions by using sarcasm (reference). It continues to follow the author’s life in exile (also in C: Cities: Iraq: Baghdad).
- Shahhad al-Rāwī (1986-, Iraq) – Sāʿat Baghdād (2016, English trans. Baghdad Clock, 2018). This novel is narrated by a young girl who witnesses the changes taking place in Baghdad as she grows up. The novel starts with her getting to know some girls in a bomb shelter, with whom she becomes friends. They live in the same neighbourhood and share many experiences including life under strict sanctions. After a period of separation following the second Gulf War, the girls decide to write about the neighbourhood they grew up in which ultimately leads to a novel titled ‘sāʿat baghdād’, referring to the big clock in the middle of the neighbourhood’s garden that was a witness to the changes that took place during all those years (also in F: Children and Family: Children and Adolescents: War and devastation through children’s eyes)
- Najm Wālī (1956-, Iraq) – Baghdād Mālbūrū (‘Baghdad Marlboro’, 2012). Set in the context of the chaos of the occupation and sectarian violence, this novel digs into Iraq’s history of the past three decades while depicting the life of its main protagonist and his attempts at saving himself in the “kill or be killed” society. The narrator is faced with an American lieutenant who returns to Iraq to seek forgiveness from the families of the victims he buried alive in the desert of Ḥafr al-Bāṭin. This forces him to remember how he was forced by his major to dig up the bodies of those Iraqi soldiers who had already surrendered before being smothered (reference) (also in 2003 – 2011 US – led Invasion of Iraq).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Ikram Masmoudi. 2015. War and Occupation in Iraqi Fiction. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, p. 15, 59, 86, 111
- Aida O. Azouqa. 2011. “Gamāl al-Ghīṭānī’s ‘Pyramid Texts’ and the Fiction of Jorge Luis Borges: A Comparative Study.” JAL 42: 1-28
- Dalia M. A. Gomaa. 2017. “Re-membering Iraqis in Nuha al-Radi’s ‘Baghdad Diaries: A Woman’s Chronicle of War and Exile.” Feminist Formations 29(1): 53-70, p. 53