For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In “Africa’s Struggle for Its Art,” Benedicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. One of the world’s foremost experts on restitution and cultural heritage, Savoy investigates extensive, previously unpublished sources to reveal that the roots of the struggle extend much further back than prominent recent debates indicate, and that these efforts were covered up by myriad opponents.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Frankenstein in Baghdad’
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Author: Ahmed Saadawi
This novel by Iraqi author Ahmed Saadawi blends elements of horror, satire, and magical realism to craft a compelling commentary on the human condition in war-torn Baghdad.
Set in the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion, the story follows a junk dealer named Hadi who decides to assemble a “human” from the body parts of victims left on the streets after suicide bombings and insurgent attacks.
Hadi’s creation is a patchwork creature that comes to life and begins roaming the streets of the city, seeking revenge on those responsible for the deaths of the individuals from whom it was assembled.
As the creature carries out its violent mission, a rich cast of characters is drawn into the story, including an elderly woman haunted by the ghost of her late husband, a journalist seeking to break a major story, and a government agent tasked with hunting down and destroying the creature.
Through these interwoven narratives, Saadawi creates a darkly humorous and thought-provoking allegory for the chaos in post-invasion Iraq. The monster serves as a physical embodiment of the trauma, violence, and social breakdown experienced by the Iraqi people, with its bloodthirsty quest for vengeance mirroring the cycle of retribution that gripped the country.
What struck me most was how Saadawi was able to seamlessly blend elements of horror, magical realism, and social commentary to craft a work that felt both unsettlingly strange and yet hauntingly relatable. The character of the monster became a powerful metaphor for the dehumanizing effects of the war.
Saadawi’s prose is both lyrical and grounded, capturing the details of daily life in Baghdad, while also imbuing the narrative with moments of poetic beauty and philosophical rumination. His characters, too, are richly drawn, each struggling with their own personal demons and moral quandaries as they are swept up in the chaos unfolding around them.
Ultimately, "Frankenstein in Baghdad" is a powerful and imaginative work that uses the framework of the classic gothic horror tale to explore the enduring trauma of war and the dehumanizing effects of violence. Through its metaphorical monster and tapestry of interlocking stories, the novel offers a vivid, unsettling, and ultimately unforgettable portrait of a society grappling with the aftermath of invasion and occupation.
What We Are Reading Today: The Hidden Victims: Civilian Casualties of the Two World Wars
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- By one reputable estimate, 9.7 million civilians and 9 million combatants died in World War I, while World War II killed 25.5 million civilians and 15 million combatants
Author: Cormac O Grada
Soldiers have never been the only casualties of wars. But the armies that fought World Wars I and II killed far more civilians than soldiers as they countenanced or deliberately inflicted civilian deaths on a mass scale. By one reputable estimate, 9.7 million civilians and 9 million combatants died in World War I, while World War II killed 25.5 million civilians and 15 million combatants.
But in The Hidden Victims, Cormac O Grada argues that even these shocking numbers are almost certainly too low.
Carefully evaluating all the evidence available, he estimates that the wars cost not 35 million but some 65 million civilian lives—nearly two-thirds of the 100 million total killed. Indeed, he shows that war-induced famines alone may have killed.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Literary Journeys’
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Edited by John McMurtrie
Extending to the ends of the earth and spanning from ancient Greece to today, “Literary Journeys” is an enthralling book that takes you on a voyage of discovery through some of the most important journeys in literature. In original essays, an international team of literary critics, scholars, and other writers explore exciting, dangerous, tragic, and uplifting journeys in more than 75 classic and popular works of fiction from around the world.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Deep Life’ by Tullis C. Onstott
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“Deep Life” takes readers to uncharted regions deep beneath Earth’s crust in search of life in extreme environments, and reveals how astonishing new discoveries by geomicrobiologists are aiding the quest to find life in the solar system.
Tullis Onstott provides an insider’s look at the pioneering fieldwork that is shining new light on Earth’s hidden biology, a subterranean biosphere thriving with rare and exotic life forms.
What We Are Reading Today: Comparing the Literatures
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Author: David Damrosch
Literary studies are being transformed today by the expansive and disruptive forces of globalization. More works than ever circulate worldwide in English and in translation, and even national traditions are increasingly seen in transnational terms.
In “Comparing the Literatures,” David Damrosch integrates comparative, postcolonial, and world-literary perspectives to offer a comprehensive overview of comparative studies and its prospects in a time of great upheaval and great opportunity.