Abstract
Frankinštāyn Fī Baġdād is a trauma fiction about the 2003 American occupation of Iraq and other Iraqi wars. [1] How can such chaotic reality be represented? Rather than speculative, the gothic, dystopian and intertextual elements of the novel root it in the very real and extreme violence of 2005 Baghdad. According to Whitehead, intertextuality in trauma fiction is the ideal device for repetition, which shows how the traumatic event haunts the traumatized subject because it is not fully integrated into their consciousness.[2] Besides, as a palimpsestic text, its intertextuality lies, at least, at two levels: the composition of the monster’s body itself and the rewriting of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. On the one hand, the body consists of layers of different ethnic groups who have populated Iraq since antiquity: “Because I’m made up of body parts of people from diverse backgrounds – ethnicities, tribes, races and social classes – I represent the impossible mix that never was achieved in the past. I’m the first true Iraqi citizen.” On the other hand, intertextuality, a powerful device for postcolonial trauma fiction, represents the opportunity for the colonized to reappropriate the story and for marginal voices to be heard. Through intertextuality characterization, themes, narrative and plot are revised: Victor, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s main protagonist, lies in stark contrast with Ahmed Saadawi’s protagonist, Hādī al-‘attāk. In addition, the monsters are driven by different motives –knowledge and love for the former, justice and ethics for the latter. If Mary Shelley’s monster asks Victor to create a female monster with whom he can share his life, Saadawi’s monster asks Hādī al-‘attāk to brighten his tarnished reputation and help him “finally bring about justice on earth.” This leads him to be seen as the embodiment of the modern Iraqi leviathan to whom the Magician, the Sophist, the Enemy and other sorcerers submit their free will so he can protect their commonwealth. However, Saadawi’s monster, disillusioned with different leviathans––theocracy (religious militias), democracy (Americans), totalitarian regime (Baath)––and blinded by his hubris, aims at avenging the innocent victims of these unjust leviathans. Thus, he finds himself not being able to tell whether the new body parts come from victims or perpetrators; he repeatedly metes out violence and mirrors the unjust US War on Terror.
Saadawi, Ahmed. Frankinštāyn Fī Baġdād. Beirut: Al-Jamal Publication, 2013
Whitehead, Ann. Trauma Fiction. Edinburgh University Press, 2004; Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narratives, and History. John Hopkins University Press, 1996
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