De-composing “human” bodies in the mirror of Iraqi “Monsters”: How to manipulate the present and re-compose the future

In a literary milieu characterized by the progress of new and increasingly varied genres whose combination partakes in a reformulation of the concept of Adab itself, some Arab writers are proposing an anatomy, or perhaps an “autopsy”, of what remains of Arab societies, especially after the collapse of the previous regimes (as in the case of Iraq). This paper will focus on narrative works by Iraqi writers who, like skilful surgeons, are currently trying to decompose reality, by de-constructing the human being itself, thus presenting contemporary or futuristic visions of their society. The literary Iraqi scene offers works that occasionally propose a reinterpretation of what al-Ariss (2016) refers to as the emergence of the so-called tawaḥḥush (becoming wild, beastly). The present study therefore aims at exploring the paths of recent Iraqi literature in search of works that can provide a taxonomy of the “monstrous”.