The Infamous Iraqi Majidat: Chastity, Chivalry and Collective Identity in the Novels of Saddam Hussein
This chapter argues that taken as a whole, the four novels of Saddam Hussein, written in as many years, epitomize the Ba‘thist state’s contradictory discourses on women. The chapter distinguishes between texts set in ancient Mesopotamia, with their emphasis on ‘liberal’ views on issues such as adultery and female political leadership, and more conservative texts set in modern Iraq, with their emphasis on traditional tribal and religious values. Ultimately, the tension in Saddam’s oeuvre seems to be between woman as symbol and woman as real person, whereby the former represents the Ba‘th’s supposedly progressive agendas, whereas the latter reflects the Party’s adoption of conservative discourses and policies vis a vis women.