A recently published anthology of Iraqi fiction shows that the country’s cultural production is not at an all-time low. Despite a long and difficult war with Iran from 1980 to 1988, the two Gulf wars of 1991 and 2003 and a crippling 13-year economic embargo, Iraqi writers never stopped writing. According to Shakir Mustafa, Iraq’s troubles have in fact energized its literary scene: “National catastrophes are not necessarily beneficial to creative expression; indeed they can be quite detrimental, but in Iraq they have opened up new terrain, and narrative writing has flourished.”
It is interesting to note that about half the writers included in this anthology are living abroad. Many fled not only the war and its sanctions but also a brutal regime which imposed a stifling censorship. During the Iran-Iraq War, “even those who chose to quit writing saw themselves forced to write something that did not rile the dictator because even silence was considered a crime,” says Najem Wali.
To evade censorship, many writers particularly Khodayyir, ventured into magic realism and fantasy using these techniques as a political camouflage. Khodayyir is also one of the few major Iraqi novelists, still living in his native city, Basra. He wrote in his masterpiece, “Basrayatha” of the importance of writers for civil society:
“None of us can imagine a city without a storyteller or a storyteller without a rostrum. This city has no history until time clothes it with the cloak of events. You begin its history wherever you wish by pulling from its cloak a thread with which to weave an incident or narrative...I cannot imagine in “Basrayatha” a storyteller without a rostrum or a citizen without a loom. The rostrum and the loom are the secret of this city.”
The enduring and visceral love Khodayyir feels for his city is at the same time touching and universal. “Basrayatha” tells the story of a unique city, Basra. The author weaves layers of voices, feelings, and places from the past and the present and gives birth to a city of the imagination. Khodayyir’s genial talent has been recognized by Robert Irwin who says that, “Mohammad Khodayyir is a marvelous short-story writer, whose somewhat Borgesian fantasies about his native city, Basra, are well worth reading.”
Jalil Al-Qaisi played a prominent role in the literary movement known as the “Kirkuk Group.” Like Khodayyir, he believes that home is a source of inspiration and he still lives in his native city, Kirkuk. In his best-known work, “Zulaikha,” he expresses the role played by the enlightened in fighting political oppression. He describes the dreadfulness of imprisonment in a dreamlike atmosphere: “When confined, what else but memories to soothe us? In the midst of such solitude they make the present more coherent. For a person locked up in a tight cell, the present flows out there, in the streets, markets, houses, valleys, caves, and the endless whistling of bullets.”
A number of writers have been deeply influenced by the tragic events which have plagued Iraq for the last 25 years. One of the most moving stories “Bitter Morning” shows the suffering of a family as a result of the long and cruel economic embargo. A mother has a terrible choice to make: sell her kidney or her seven-month old baby. In a heartbreaking conversation with his wife, the husband explains the reasons behind his choice:
“I’ve been thinking all night. After you went to sleep, I cried and cried till four in the morning. How many kidneys do you have? Just two. Yes, you’re young now, but who knows what will happen four, five, ten years from now. What will you do if something happens to your kidney? You’ll die. A lot of people have kidney trouble. You’re sacrificing yourself. And how much are you getting for the kidney, anyway? The money will last only a few months. I did the sums last night. Not more than four months. What are you going to sell next? Your eyes? We’re not selling anything anymore. We’ve sold the refrigerator, the television set, the carpets, beds, and air conditioners. We sleep on the floor. Enough.”
“ I won’t sell my baby.”
“Well, you’ll have to choose between me and selling your kidney. If you go to the hospital, you’ll never see me again.”
Many writers chose to leave Iraq and as a result, their books have been published abroad, thus robbing Iraqi writers of their usual readers. However, contrary to the old adage that “Cairo writes, Beirut publishes and Iraq reads,” Iraq is definitely writing these days, thanks to a number of excellent writers such as Fuad Takarli who has not been included in this anthology. His novel “The Distant Echo” published in 1980 was recently judged to be one of the best novels written in Arabic.
Shakir Mustafa has attempted to bring into this anthology writers who appeal to English-speaking audiences interested in Iraqi culture and literature. Most of the women and younger writers are unknown because they are under-represented in English translations. This anthology of contemporary fiction gives us limited access to a rich literature but it serves nevertheless as a measure of the great talent of its writers and it also underlines the artistic refinements they have attained.
