After the success of his debut collection,

(2010), Iraqi-born writer Hassan Blasim (b. 1973) returned to the literary scene with

, a collection of 14 stories about violence, loss, and trauma. He wrote both works from exile, living and working in Finland, a country which he entered in 2004 as a refugee. Like Blasim’s other stories, this collection is so unusual that it is hard to place. On the one hand, critics noted Blasim’s indebtedness to the Arabic literary tradition—his allusions to Abu Nuwas’s 8th Century wine-songs, and to the

and other classics within the fantastic tradition of Arabic writing. On the other hand, as Robin Yassin-Kassab points out,

also echoes the literature of Latin America,…

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Citation: Al-Attabi, Qussay M.. "The Iraqi Christ". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 September 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38833, accessed 24 November 2024.]