Frankenstein in Baghdad Themes

Set in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2005, Ahmed Saadawi’s novel Frankenstein in Baghdad tells the story of a supernatural monster, the Whatsitsname, who commits a series of murders. Hadi Hassani Aidros—an alcoholic junk collector and compulsive storyteller—created this creature by stitching together body parts from the remains of people killed in terrorist attacks. Hadi’s goal is to give dignity those who were killed, so that they might be seen as full human beings, not…

Through its depiction of armed conflict in Iraq, Frankenstein in Baghdad explores the difficulty of achieving justice in the midst of savage destruction. The Whatsitsname initially provides a ray of hope for the community: claiming to speak in the name of innocent victims, the creature seeks justice for those who have been unfairly harmed. However, as the Whatsitsname conflates justice with murderous revenge, he soon proves just as criminal and reckless as those he aims…

In Frankenstein in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital city is presented as an economic center that’s disintegrating: the city is on the verge of turning into a full-blown war zone. These circumstances create a dilemma for Baghdad’s inhabitants, who must decide whether they are willing to stay or whether they prefer to immigrate to more peaceful areas of the country or the world. Those who choose to stay are condemned to a degree of loneliness, made…

In Frankenstein in Baghdad, religious practices and faith in the supernatural allow the novel’s characters to maintain a degree of agency over their lives, amidst an environment marked by death and destruction. At the same time, although some characters are open-minded and flexible with regard to religion, others are more intractable in their approach to religious rules. This divergence in religious approaches helps explain the potential danger of equating religion with politics. The desire…