Fiction and short fiction in Iraq

الرواية والقصة القصيرة في العراق

Abstract

Fiction literature is created from imagination not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation while short fiction is brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. This paper is a descriptive study of Arabic fiction and short-fiction in Iraq. The paper describes important milestones in the history of fiction in Iraq, and its relation to other types of Arabic prose, i.e. folk tales, Maqāmāt, myths, etc. It also elaborates significant literary schools and theories which dominate Irāqī fiction including classicism, romanticism, realism, stream of consciousness, socialism, etc. The research highlights the techniques of fiction and short fiction in Irāq.