The Uncanny in Ahmed Saadawi's “Frankenstein in Baghdad"
Subject Area
Arabic and Islamic Studies
Abstract
This paper focuses on the elements of the uncanny in Ahmed Saadawi's “Frankenstein in Baghdad". This novel marked a significant contribution to the Arabic literature. With just its title alone, it suggests that it will fall in the lines of the uncanny. Uncanny can be defined as a sense of strangeness, mystery or eeriness. The uncanny in this novel creates a very uncertain feeling throughout as it attempts to make sense of what is real and what is fictitious and what is familiar and what is unfamiliar. Highlighting the elements of the uncanny unmasks a fundamental disturbance of the essences of a man/monster made from the souls of a ruined city.
Brief Bio Note
Mustapha Sami teaches French and Arabic and also serves as a coordinator of both French and Arabic programs at Emmanuel College. His research interests span the wide field of postcolonial Francophone and Arabophone Literatures.
Keywords
Uncanny, monster, strangeness, defamiliarization, uncertain, death, real, disturbance, occupation, ruined city, victim, innocence.
Location
Afternoon Session 3 (PARB 227)
Presentation Year
April 2019
Start Date
4-12-2019 5:55 PM
Embargo
11-30-2018
Recommended Citation
Sami, Mustapha, "The Uncanny in Ahmed Saadawi's “Frankenstein in Baghdad"" (2019). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 52.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2019/2019/52
The Uncanny in Ahmed Saadawi's “Frankenstein in Baghdad"
Afternoon Session 3 (PARB 227)
This paper focuses on the elements of the uncanny in Ahmed Saadawi's “Frankenstein in Baghdad". This novel marked a significant contribution to the Arabic literature. With just its title alone, it suggests that it will fall in the lines of the uncanny. Uncanny can be defined as a sense of strangeness, mystery or eeriness. The uncanny in this novel creates a very uncertain feeling throughout as it attempts to make sense of what is real and what is fictitious and what is familiar and what is unfamiliar. Highlighting the elements of the uncanny unmasks a fundamental disturbance of the essences of a man/monster made from the souls of a ruined city.
