Women, Writing and the Iraqi Ba‘thist State : : Contending Discourses of Resistance and Collaboration, 1968-2003 / / Hawraa Al-Hassan.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Al-Hassan, Hawraa,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature : ESMAL
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 13 B/W illustrations

Explores discourses on gender and representations of women in modern Iraqi fictionIncludes marginalised voices in Arabic literary scholarship, such as religious writings by Iraqi Shia womenChallenges canonical views of modern Arabic literature by studying propaganda texts such as the novels of Saddam HusseinArgues for an interdisciplinary interpretation of literary texts as cultural products that must be contextualised in the ‘market’ in which they emerge and are receivedUses the concept of ‘paratexts’ in order to better understand how political works circulate and are marketed to reach a wider audienceRelates to broader regional issues such as national identity and the status of women in Arabic societiesFind out more: watch Hawraa Al-Hassan in conversation with Narguess Farzad, talking about Women, Writing and the Iraqi Ba‘thist StateIn an effort to expand its readership and increase support for its pan-Arab project, the Iraqi Ba‘th almost completely eradicated illiteracy among women. As Iraq was metaphorically transformed into a ‘female’, through its nationalist trope, women writers simultaneously found opportunities and faced obstacles from the state, as the ‘woman question’ became a site of contention between those who would advocate the progressiveness of the Ba‘th and those who would stress its repressiveness and immorality. By exploring discourses on gender in both propaganda and high art fictional writings by Iraqis, this book offers an alternative narrative of the literary and cultural history of Iraq."

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Series Editor’s Foreword -- Note on Translation and Transliteration -- Introduction: Women, Wars and Weapons: Mapping the Cultural Battlefield of Ba‘thist Iraq -- Part 1 -- 1 History Writing and Canon-making: the Place of Women in Narratives of the Iran–Iraq War -- 2 The Infamous Iraqi Majidat: Chastity, Chivalry and Collective Identity in the Novels of Saddam Hussein -- Part 2 -- 3 Fighting Fire with Fire: the Islamic Novel in Iraq and the Battle for Hearts and Minds -- 4 The National Gets Personal: Autobiographical Writings by Iraqi Women -- Conclusion: Binaries, Bonds and Moving beyond the Ba‘th -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Bibliography -- Index