A Comparative Study of Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

The term hypertextuality refers to any form of adaptation; therefore, in literature, this term expresses the relations between texts. The novel Frankenstein in Baghdad written by Ahmed Saadawi, an Iraqi novelist, is influenced by Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in that the signs of the cleared layers of Shelley’s hypotext can be seen in Sadawi’s hypertext. This leads to a palimpsestuous relation between the two texts. In the field of hypertextuality, the term palimpsest refers to any type of adaptation in which the layers of the original text can be seen in the adapted text. This process, which is named transformation, takes place through a purposeful change made in the hypertext without any imitation of it. The transformation and extension of meaning in the hypotext is done through transposition, which refers to the drastic changes made to the hypotext. It is possible, however, to detect parody of the hypotext, such as practice of transvestism, in Saadawi’s novel. Yet, parody is not the entire hypertextual relation between the two texts. This study analyzes the transformational relation between some features of the contents of the two texts and the changes made to the hypertext in the form of transposition. Transposition makes profound changes in many of the dimensions of Shelley’s novel without interpreting it. Titles, names, places, themes, symbols, language, religion, and beliefs are some of the items that are transposed in Saadawi’s novel. The appearance of the character Frankenstein in Saadawi’s novel causes the emergence of different cultural and social symbols and signs. The difference between the language of the novels and the difference between places are vivid examples of transposition that explain the spectral presence of Frankenstein in the hypertext, the dominant atmosphere of the hypertext, and how the past causes the absence of meaning with its presence.