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

"Lady Deer" (2020) by Maryam Hosseinian, a contemporary Iranian writer, unfolds the story of Tahereh (Tata), who discovers a large peach core containing a young deer while grappling with her unwanted pregnancy. This article explores how unintended pregnancy, as a drastic bodily change, can metamorphose the self-perception of the feminine subject within the context of a culture where pregnancy is perceived as a "sacred" phenomenon. Pregnancy, being a unique physiological experience for women, instigates fundamental changes in their sexual and social identity. To embrace the new hegemony, a feminine subject needs to alter her "performativity" to align herself with a value system that has suddenly surrounded her. Butler contends that the subject's deliberate actions and reactions to the "calls" emanating from the value system play a pivotal role in disrupting hegemony. In this book, Tata's pregnancy and subsequent absolute rest prohibit her from striving for independence-related goals. The surreal deer gradually becomes her sole support in her memories, where she mostly (re)experiences and (re)constructs former physical and emotional abuses. The protagonist, feeling alienated from her fetus throughout the novel, is constantly called by the values of traditional discourse. While traditional culture strives to subjectify her within the frame of its inherited values, she, having lived in modern discourse for years, actively tries to negate this process. The war between traditional and modern discourses, each having a different understanding of the body, leads to the alienation of the feminine subject from her body. In this regard, her body becomes a "zone" of conflicts, as Elizabeth Grosz asserts, resulting in self-abuse: Tata transforms the ideal body into an object so that it can be identified. In fact, faced with her transformed body, the subject begins to invert to make her agency possible. In this article, the pregnant subject's body is positioned as the focal point of discourses aiming to subjectify the feminine body. Drawing upon the perspectives of Judith Butler and Elizabeth Grosz, I will illustrate how the subject's constant resistance to subjection leads to self-harm in the context of pregnancy.

This study explores the intersection of gothic elements and Modern Persian literature, with a focus on Forugh Farrokhzad’s poetry, to answer how her work embodies the characteristics of a “Persinate Gothic” genre. Farrokhzad, whose life was as deeply tragic as her verses, used her pen to paint a landscape filled with the shadows of the gothic, mirroring the tumultuous socio-political upheavals of her time and the intimate struggles of being an Iranian woman. Farrokhzad’s poetry not only constitutes a variant of gothic elements deeply rooted in Persian culture but also offers a unique lens to understand the broader implications of gender inequality and oppression in Iran. The methodology is a literary analysis with a historical approach examining Farrokhzad’s poems “The Wind Will Take Us” and “Mechanical Doll” against the backdrop of Iran’s historical, political, and cultural milieu. This analysis employs critical theories from gothic scholars such as Botting and Byron, alongside the historical context provided by Moghissi and Katouzian among others. The research draws from a rich array of sources including critical essays, historical accounts, and primary texts to detect the gothic undercurrents in Farrokhzad’s poetry. This research based on textual analysis, reveals that Farrokhzad’s work features gothic elements such as dark symbolism, motifs of imprisonment and decay, and themes of existential dread. These elements serve as metaphors for the subjugation and marginalization experienced by Iranian women, reflecting a society supposedly modernized yet still deeply anchored in traditional gender roles. Farrokhzad’s employment of the gothic genre not only enriches the literary landscape but also serves as a form of socio-political critique. Her poetry transcends the mere aesthetic, becoming a vehicle for portraying localized gothic being an excellent example of the gothic in Persian Poetry. This study hopes to extend the body of knowledge on Persian gothic literature and underscores the necessity for cultural reforms to address the underlying issues of gender inequality and systemic oppression in Iran. The broader implications of this study suggest a reevaluation of Iranian literature, advocating for a deeper exploration of its gothic dimensions and their relation to the lived experiences of Iranians, particularly Iranian women who are at times considered the gothic abject in both literary contexts and in the broader cultural narrative.