Shi’i-inherited trauma: Iraqi frames of grief in Zā’iyyat al-wajd (‘Ode to passion’) by ʿAbd ʿAun al-Rauḍān

Abstract

After the fall of the Baathist regime in 2003, Iraqi authors were able to address past experiences of loss, death and suffering in a more explicit manner than before. An outstanding literary attempt of coming to terms with destruction and loss is the novel Zā’iyyat al-wajd (‘Ode to passion’) by the late Iraqi writer, translator and anthologist ʿAbd ʿAun al-Rauḍān (1939–2016), published in 2004. Deeply entwined in this anti-war novel are the acts of mourning loved ones and the making of passionate pleas against the horrendous and meaningless destruction of war. In my reading of this author’s last novel, I pay special attention to past and present traumas experienced by the narrator and how they relate to the violent history of contemporary Iraq. Moreover, I explore the role of religious tradition, family life, more intimate and private forms of mourning and storytelling for coping with life in a still precarious present.