Ebook: The Iraqi Novel: Key Writers, Key Texts

Studies a neglected area of postcolonial fiction, fostering a better understanding of Iraqi culture and society

This exploration of the work of Iraqi novelists begins with the early pioneering works and then moves towards an outline of the vibrant Baghdad cultural scene during the 1940s and 1950s. Particular attention is paid to detailed textual analysis and the evaluation and comparison of the aesthetic and poetic qualities of the key works of the four writers who form the central subject of the book – Abd al-Malik Nuri (1921–98), Gha’ib Tu‘ma Farman (1927–90), Mahdi Isa al-Saqr (1927–2006) and Fu’ad al-Takarli (1927–2008) – all of whom began to write in or around the pivotal decade of the 1950s.

It is in these writers’ works that Iraqi fiction came of age and reached artistic maturity. The best of them are among the most complex portrayals of the particularities of life in Iraq and the human condition in general to come out of the Arab world

Key Features

• Includes an original study of works by Abd al-Malik Nuri and of the Baghdad cultural scene in the 1940s and 50s
• Pays particular attention to detailed textual analysis and the evaluation and comparison of the aesthetic and poetic qualities of the works considered
• Analyses Iraqi writings from a postcolonial and comparative perspective
• Studies the early pioneering works of Iraqi fiction