Hassan Blasim, The Iraqi Christ

Qussay M. Al-Attabi (Kenyon College)

Ed. by Nora Parr, SOAS, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 6.1.4: Arab Diasporic Literature and Culture (Anglophone/ Francophone/ Other), 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Anna Bernard (King's College London), Joseph Farag (University of Minnesota), Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Nora Parr (SOAS, University of London), Rita Sakr (Maynooth University), Anastasia Valassopoulos (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2013

Places

Iraq (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

After the success of his debut collection, The Madman of Freedom Square (2010), Iraqi-born writer Hassan Blasim (b. 1973) returned to the literary scene with The Iraqi Christ, a collection of 14 stories about violence, loss, and trauma. He wrote both works from exile, living and working in Finland, a country which he entered in 2004 as a refugee. Like Blasim’s other stories, this collection is so unusual that it is hard to place. On the one hand, critics noted Blasim’s indebtedness to the Arabic literary tradition—his allusions to Abu Nuwas’s 8^th Century wine-songs, and to the Arabian Nights and other classics within the fantastic tradition of Arabic writing. On the other …

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1749 words

Citation: Al-Attabi, Qussay M.. "The Iraqi Christ". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 September 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38833, accessed 15 May 2024.]

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