The Corpse Washer
The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon, published by Yale University Press on July 30, 2013, is a literary work that explores the life of young Jawad, who comes from a traditional Shi’ite family of corpse washers in Baghdad. As he embarks on a journey to become a sculptor, he seeks to celebrate life rather than engage with death. However, the socio-political turmoil of Iraq during the late 1980s and beyond forces him back into the family tradition amid the chaos of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the subsequent invasion in 2003.
Readers will find a poignant narrative that delves into the intersection of art and mortality, as Jawad grapples with his identity and the harsh realities of his environment. The novel presents a vivid portrayal of the impact of historical events on personal lives, illustrating how the violence and suffering in Iraq shape the daily existence of its people. Through the lens of a single family’s struggles, Antoon reveals the complexities of life and death in a society marked by conflict, inviting reflection on the broader implications of these experiences. This edition contains 185 pages and is written in English.
Official synopsis Publisher
DIV
Young Jawad, born to a traditional Shi’ite family of corpse washers and shrouders in Baghdad, decides to abandon the family tradition, choosing instead to become a sculptor, to celebrate life rather than tend to death. He enters Baghdad’s Academy of Fine Arts in the late 1980s, in defiance of his father’s wishes and determined to forge his own path. But the circumstances of history dictate otherwise. Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and the economic sanctions of the 1990s destroy the socioeconomic fabric of society. The 2003 invasion and military occupation unleash sectarian violence. Corpses pile up, and Jawad returns to the inevitable washing and shrouding. Trained as an artist to shape materials to represent life aesthetically, he now must contemplate how death shapes daily life and the bodies of Baghdad’s inhabitants.
Through the struggles of a single desperate family, Sinan Antoon’s novel shows us the heart of Iraq’s complex and violent recent history. Descending into the underworld where the borders between life and death are blurred and where there is no refuge from unending nightmares, Antoon limns a world of great sorrows, a world where the winds wail.
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