Title: The influence of world literature on the Iraqi novel
Authors: Saad A . Al - Saadi , Iraq
Volume: 9
Issue: 8
Pages: 343-345
Publication Date: 2025/08/28
Abstract:
The Iraqi novel has undergone significant transformations with the influence of world literature, especially Western, since the beginning of the twentieth century. This influence came through multiple channels such as early translations of the works of Cervantes and Gorky, literary magazines, and scholarships that allowed direct interaction with Western literature. Iraqi novelists have adopted innovative narrative techniques such as stream of consciousness (as in the works of Fouad al-tikrali), socialist realism (in the absence of Tama Farman), and intermittent chronological narrative. It also absorbed philosophical themes such as existentialism and absurdism, and adopted postmodern and meta-narrative techniques (as in Frankenstein in Baghdad).þ These influences enriched the Iraqi narrative, enabled it to combine originality and modernity, and raised it to the standards of contemporary world literature.þ