Evolution of Creation from Mythology to Reality: A Multidisciplinary Study into the Roots of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ahmed Sa’adawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad

Abstract

Shelley’s Frankenstein has been considered a literary masterpiece since its publication. Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad is similarly a work of great significance that won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014. Since its release, the name ‘Frankenstein’ attached to Baghdad, as a novel title in the mid of the American occupation of Iraq (2005) and its connection to a universal Frankenstein, has been inspiring to the Iraqis and world fiction lovers. What remains essential about this fascination among the readers is in the questions of how and what is the connection between both works. Therefore, this paper attempts to discover the roots of the concept of creation behind Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818 and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad in 2013 from mythology, theology, science, and political reality of Iraq. Besides, the linear evolution in the concept of creation throughout the mentioned areas will be displayed to unfold the origins that lie behind these colossal novels. Understanding that lineage development in the concept and the disputes around it is of great significance to the reader which can empower them to contextualize the novels since apprehending new context is a vital factor for appropriation and intertexuality. As long as there are creators and creatures as the two sides of the same process of creation, therefore, the mentioned concepts will always be discussed throughout this work; including the punishment that both protagonists suffer from as one common consequence.