Frankenstein in Baghdad

Frankenstein in Baghdad, written by Ahmed Saadawi, was originally published in Arabic in 2013; it was published in English in 2018 in a translation by Jonathan Wright. It is a modern, magical realist take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, updated to take place in post-war, US-occupied Iraq. It won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014.

Plot Summary

In Bataween, a neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, live a series of interrelated characters: Elishva, an old widow who still believes her son Daniel, missing 20 years, is going to return; Hadi, a storyteller and poor junk dealer; Faraj, a moderately successful realtor; and Mahmoud, a young journalist living in the dilapidated Orouba Hotel. Unbeknownst to the others, Hadi, who lost his friend and business partner, Nahem, to a car bomb, has been collecting body parts at bombings and assembling a corpse with the intent to give it a proper burial; following a bombing in Tayaran Square, he collects a nose and finishes his work. Not long after, Hadi is walking by the Sadeer Novotel hotel when another bomb goes off, killing the guard, Hasib. Hasib’s soul enters the corpse and reanimates it. He walks next door into Elishva’s house; she believes it is her son and dresses him in Daniel’s clothes.

The Whatsitsname, as Hadi comes to call it, finds that he is driven by revenge, an irresistible urge to kill the person responsible for the deaths of the various people to whom his body parts belonged. Moreover, he is good at it, as he cannot be killed by normal means. He begins to see himself as the righteous savior of the Baghdadi people, drawing a following of acolytes who live with him in an abandoned building in a violent district. Most others are frightened of the wave of strange killings.

Hadi decides to tell the story of the Whatsitsname to Mahmoud, as he’s now terrified of what he’s brought into the world. Mahmoud doesn’t believe him and gives him his digital recorder to interview the Whatsitsname, assuming that Hadi—who is known as a liar—will sell the recorder. Ten days later, the recorder is returned with a fascinating story. Mahmoud gets permission to write it up for his magazine, but his editor, Saidi, changes the final version to make it more fantastic.

Unbeknownst to Mahmoud, Brigadier Majid, head of the Tracking and Pursuit Department, has been investigating the strange murders of the person he knows as the One Who Has No Name. He calls in Mahmoud to interrogate him, and Mahmoud sends him to Hadi. Majid’s men question and beat Hadi, believing he might be the criminal, but allow him to leave. Meanwhile, Mahmoud is taking on more responsibilities at the paper in Saidi’s unexpected and unexplained absence.

One day, Elishva’s grandson Daniel arrives; as planned by his mother and aunt, Elishva is so taken by the resemblance to her own son that she agrees to move to live with them in Australia. She sells her house to Faraj and her belongings to Hadi and departs. Meanwhile, Abu Anmar gives in and sells his hotel to Faraj, and he, too, leaves Baghdad. After they have left, a massive explosion rocks Bataween, leveling much of the neighborhood, including Elishva’s house; the Orouba Hotel remains standing but is functionally useless. The same day, Mahmoud arrives at the magazine to find the government shutting down the magazine and seizing its assets, claiming that Saidi has stolen $13 million in US aid. Majid and Mahmoud are taken into questioning.

The in-story writer of the novel finds Mahmoud in a café, desperately trying to sell his digital recorder with the story on it. The writer is captivated by the story and works to corroborate it. He has an unfinished, 17-chapter manuscript when he is arrested and interrogated about the story; he is released, but his manuscript is confiscated. He starts to rewrite it, but when he receives a tip that he will be rearrested, he disappears. Mahmoud moves back to his home city and is lying low. He receives an email from Saidi explaining that he is innocent of the charges, and the only secret he’s been keeping is that Majid’s astrologers told him that Mahmoud would one day become prime minister. He wants to enlist Mahmoud’s aid, but Mahmoud ignores his email and forwards it to the writer.

Back in Baghdad, Hadi is arrested as Criminal X, or the Whatsitsname. The citizens of Bataween—what’s left of it—dance in the streets, while Aziz the coffee shop owner and Mahmoud separately doubt that Hadi was capable of those crimes. From the wreckage of the Orouba, a stranger watches the celebrations.