Violence and Terror in Post 2003 Iraqi Fiction: Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer

Because of Iraqs location and natural resources, it became the land of political interest and greed for other nations that seek and insist on destroying and scattering its people for the sake of their benefits. Iraq has been involved in a lot of wars and casualties through the years, which has rendered violence a constant image of how the situation was depicted in Iraqi and even non-Iraqi literature. Accordingly, post-2003 fiction has crowned two concepts: violence and terror as an un-shakable depiction of the situation in Iraq. Many Scholars have discussed the concept of violence mostly in its direct form but it is much more complex than that. The current study aims at investigating the reasons behind pinpointing violence as a constant depiction of how and why Iraqi fiction is always viewed, represented and tainted with cruelty, terror, and violence. The study endeavors to explore the concept of violence and terror in Sinan Antoons The Corps Washer, as a sample, by adapting and integrating direct, structural, and cultural violence in analyzing this novel. It will be carried out in the light of Galtungs triangle of violence in the context of Galtungs conflict theory.