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This article deals with three metafictional novels by the Iraqi-American writer Sinan Antoon: Iʿǧām (An Iraqi Rhapsody, 2004), Yā Maryam (Hail Mary, 2012), and Waḥdahā šaǧarat al-rummān (The Pomegranate Alone, 2010), author-translated into English as The Corpse Washer (2013). The novels are set in Iraq during Ṣaddām Ḥusayn's dictatorship and in the aftermath of America's invasion. Antoon juxtaposes the terror of Iraqi life against characters seeking to survive through their mind-bending determination to see beauty in their fragmented world. To achieve his paradox, Antoon transports readers of his narrative's here-and-now into transcendent unrealities by using magical realism. A kind of three-dimensional dialectic operates between the natural and supernatural, and rationality and irrationality in which characters' find in their dreams respite by suspending accepted definitions of time, place, and identity. Writing in Arabic, Antoon highlights two conflicting functions of language and letters as vehicles of destruction and creativity. Antoon's three novels, each from its own perspective, reflect his belief that although Iraq is presently in a state of disintegration, the Iraqi people are resolute in their willingness to overcome hardship and to resurrect their nation in their lifetime.

Isaac Bar Moshe (1927-2004) was born in Baghdad and immigrated to Israel in 1950. This article deals with his literary world, which is split between realism on the one hand and fantasy, mysticism and dreams on the other, with both these planes reflecting his perspective on various existential questions. The article focuses on the short stories in his book Behind the Wall (1973), which, like many of his other works, are largely anchored in his private life and depict a bleak reality, with dreams and fantasy offering the only hope of escape into a better, more spiritual world. The article concludes with an analysis of Bar Moshe's stories in terms of the three functions of fantasy - 'recovery, escape and consolation' - as formulated by writer and philologist J.R.R. Tolkien in his book Tree and Leaf.

Samir Naqqash (1938-2004) was born in Baghdad and migrated to Israel in 1951. This article describes his divided soul, his attempts to adapt to a new homeland and his inability to develop a sense of belonging to Israeli society. The study is based on two short stories, 'Willow Night', which describes the collapse of an old world and the loss of Jewish values, and 'Tantal', a story of childhood. A major theme in Naqqash's writings is the search for identity, a direct result of the author's inability to detach himself from his previous identity as an Iraqi Jew. This theme is intimately connected to one of the most important motifs in his stories, rootlessness. The author feels torn from a previous perfect world, now lost - a world which he now adores and remembers with sentimental yearning. In his stories he depicts a number of characters whose emigration to Israel induced a profound shock in them, which eventually led to their mental and physical downfall.

Samir Naqqash (1938-2004) was born in Baghdad and migrated to Israel in 1951. This article describes his divided soul, his attempts to adapt to a new homeland and his inability to develop a sense of belonging to Israeli society. The study is based on two short stories, 'Willow Night', which describes the collapse of an old world and the loss of Jewish values, and 'Tantal', a story of childhood. A major theme in Naqqash's writings is the search for identity, a direct result of the author's inability to detach himself from his previous identity as an Iraqi Jew. This theme is intimately connected to one of the most important motifs in his stories, rootlessness. The author feels torn from a previous perfect world, now lost - a world which he now adores and remembers with sentimental yearning. In his stories he depicts a number of characters whose emigration to Israel induced a profound shock in them, which eventually led to their mental and physical downfall. Reprinted by permission of Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.

This article examines existential themes in three of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Munīf's novels: The Trees and the Murder of Marzūq, East of the Mediterranean and Here and Now or East of the Mediterranean Revisited. The innovation of existentialist literature lies in the strength with which it describes alienation in the modern era, the meaninglessness of life and the pursuit of truth and absolute values. Munīf's characters reflect the central themes of existentialist philosophy and literature. Like the protagonists of Sartre and Camus, they are aware of the absurdity of human existence and attempt to rebel against it, though often rebellion leads them to death and obscurity. Munīf's works, some of which belong to the unique Arabic prison literature sub-genre, highlight individuality and authenticity in his characters and portray other issues that preoccupy Western existentialist writers: anxiety and distress, fear of death, loneliness, alienation and moral decline. In Munīf's literary world the existentialist fate is inevitable. However, most of his leading characters do not give up and do not succumb to fate, but fight against it in body and spirit. Across the spectrum of his writings, Munīf's indomitable, yet highly human figures live and die lives committed to the existential ideals of freedom and authenticity, because they are aware that if they give up the struggle, all hope for a better future is lost.

'Abd al-Rahmān Munīf's novels East of the Mediterranean and Here and Now or East of the Mediterranean Revisited belong to the genre of prison literature, which describes the life and the suffering of prisoners. The suffering of the heroes in these novels, who are political prisoners, stems less from their physical torment than from the denial of freedom, which is a central theme in Munīf's works. These protagonists' political activity is anchored in their desire to establish a state founded upon liberty, justice and honesty. They are authentic heroes, whose authenticity is manifest in their ceaseless struggle to preserve their identity and to become fully aware of the meaning of their existence as human beings, as well as in their willingness to take responsibility, to risk themselves and even to sacrifice their lives for their cause of attaining liberty, and in their complete dedication to this type of existence, which reflects an inner strength and a readiness to confront fate. The novels address the issue of freedom from both the existential perspective and the moral-political one. The dictatorial regime creates an absurd reality whereby the individual who struggles for freedom is sent to jail, where he experiences a yearning for both personal and collective freedom.