ArabLit and 7iber continue coverage of this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) longlist – in English and Arabic — with Ahmed Saadawi and Frankenstein in Baghdad, which wonders what happens when a killer won’t die:
Frankenstein in Baghdad was also chosen as one of the best novels of 2013 on by ArabLit contributor Ines Abassi.
In Frankenstein in Baghdad, protagonist Hadi al-Attag lives in the populous al-Bataween district of Baghdad. In the spring of 2005, he takes the body parts of those killed in explosions and sews them together to create a new body. When a displaced soul enters the body, a new being comes to life. Hadi call it “what’s-its-name,” the authorities call it “Criminal X,” and others simply call it “Frankenstein.”
Al-Mustafa Najjar reviews the book: A Golden Piece of Shit: On Morality and War
Interview with IPAF organizers: ‘An Illusory Release, a Calm Before a Storm’
Read an excerpt of Frankenstein in Baghdad: from the Beirut39 collection, trans. Anne Shaker.
Also, Saadawi in the NYT in March 2013: A Decade of Despair
Previously featured novels:
Ashraf al-Khamaisi’s ‘God’s Land of Exile‘
Ibrahim Abdelmeguid’s ‘Clouds Over Alexandria’