Reclaiming sense of place in postwar Baghdad through polysensoriality in Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer

This study examines The Corpse Washer (2013), a novel by acclaimed Iraqi writer Sinan Antoon, who portrays the altered spatiality of postwar Baghdad following the 2003 US invasion and subsequent sectarian conflicts. While critical discussions on the novel have focused mainly on themes of war trauma, violence, and identity, this study adopts a different perspective by exploring the characters’ polysensorial engagement with their environment, which leads to a reimagining of postwar Baghdad. Employing Bertrand Westphal’s geocriticism, particularly his concept of polysensoriality, this study analyzes how the altered urban landscape impacts the characters’ perceived and lived experiences. It also examines how the characters interact with their environment beyond the visual, engaging auditory, olfactory, and tactile dimensions to mitigate alienation and re-establish a sense of belonging to the city. The findings reveal that The Corpse Washer not only highlights the destructive impact of the Iraq War on Baghdad’s spatial configuration but also attests to the resilience of its inhabitants, who reconstruct their relationship with the city through polysensorial engagement. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to discussions on postwar urban spatiality in Antoon’s novel in particular and contemporary Iraqi fiction in general, as it argues for the centrality of connecting with urban landscapes polysensorially as a means of reimagining and negotiating individuals’ sense of belonging to the city. Future research may expand on this approach by examining other postwar literary narratives to further explore how war-altered cities are represented and experienced.

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