- ʿAlī Badr (?, Iraq) – Asātidhat al-Wahm (‘The Professors of Illusion’, 2011). This novel portrays three poets who are torn between their poetic aspirations and their obligations as conscripted soldiers who are forced to join the war’s northern front (reference). The narrator of the novel, the only poet to have survived the war, tells the story of two of his friends and fellow poets: ʿĪsā and Munīr. While Munīr died as a soldier, ʿĪsā deserted the military and lead a bohemian life experimenting with poetry and hiding in fear until he is eventually captured and killed (also in L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Philosophical heritage: Russian authors and philosophers).
- 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, and 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 in 1990 – 1991 Iraq invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War: 1991 Gulf War).
- Muḥammad Ḥasan (?, Iraq) – Hubūṭ al-Malāʾika (‘The descent of the angels’, 2013). This novel narrates the life of Khalīl, an Iraqi artist and tailor who deserts the Iraqi army and seeks refuge in Belgium. The novel depicts Khalīl’s time in Europe as well as the flashbacks he relives of his life and friendships (reference). His friend Mālik, for example, is imprisoned after his desertion, manages to escape to Iran where he is imprisoned again, then escapes again and ends up in Pakistan, where he is arrested and sent to Iraq. In Iraq Mālik was tortured and castrated before being sent to the infamous Abū Ghraib prison (also in D: Dysfunctional Governance: Prison literature and Torture: Infamous Prisons: US Detention Camps).
- Ḥamīd al-ʿUqābī (1956 – 2017, Iraq) – Uṣghī ilā Ramādī (‘I listen to my ashes’, 2002). The narrator of this novel describes his experiences of fear, flight, and exile after his decision to desert from the Iran-Iraq war.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Ikram Masmoudi. 2015. War and Occupation in Iraqi Fiction. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, p. 15, 59, 77