Blurring the Line Between History and Fiction in Saad Z. Hossain's Escape from Bhagdad

Abstract

Utilizing the concept of new historicism Stephen Greenblatta, M. H. Abrmas, Louis Montrose and H. Aram Veeser, this research concentrates upon the the textual representation incorporate traces and fragments of historical truth in tacit manner in the novel Saad Z. Hossain's Escape from Bhagdad. It also examines how the fragment of historical truth and cultural ethos enter the textual world in micro form. The truth which enters the text in this manner is subjectivized and textually manipulated. Self-consciously outrageous and at times silly to the point of becoming sophomoric, Escape from Baghdad!achieves its true emotional impact through expressions of genuine wit bound to powerful meditations on the inanity of war, and on the special inanity of a particular 2003 war.Escape From Baghdadby Saad Z. Hossain is a historical war novel which deals mainly with the issue of war-torn Iraq. Along with the presentation of prolonged conflict, the author has excavated the history of Iraq in the novel. The novel Escape From Baghdad has taken help of society, politics, culture and religion to flourish its ideas. Set in the scenery of Iraq war, it has depicted the notion of Druze's history, the origin of Islam, its fragmentation into Shi'a and Sunni, the Mukhabharat and other regional and tribal groups. The novel relies more upon politics and less on religion to mature its ideas. The pain of domestic civil war faced by much of the Iraqi people is scattered in the novel throughout several characters in several chapter. The ancient Iraqi city of Baghdad and Mosul are cited several times to show the terror, horror and havoc of the war.