A Poetical Counter-Narrative of post-invasion Iraq: Preliminary Considerations on the War in Women Poets’ Verses, between History and Myth

The history of contemporary Iraq is shaped by war, and recent Iraqi literature deals with it constantly. This paper focuses on the counter-narrative of Iraqi history by two women poets from the so-called “generation of the '80s”, Amal al-Ǧubūrī and Dunyā Miḫāʾīl. They both had to flee into exile for their criticism against the Iraqi regime, and both have approached through similar perspectives the theme of war, deeply renewing the genre of the war poem. Their peculiar perspective builds a counter- narrative of the history of Iraq from an ironical, often gendered point of view. It is enriched by both poets’ connection with the history and myths of their country. These features may constitute the basis for further studies in order to track women’s poetical subgroup/s in Iraq.