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Professor Najm Kadhim

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Baghdad University

Prof. Najm Kadhim is Professor of Criticism, Comparative and Modern Literature at the University of Baghdad. Professor Kadhim is the author of several books on aspects of Arab literature, and has most recently won the prestigious $50,000 Yusuf bin Ahmad Kanoo Prize 2008 in the category Arabic Literature, for his book The Other in the Modern Arabic Poetry.

Born in Diala province in 1951 and educated at the University of Baghdad (graduating 1973), he worked for five years in the Ministry of Culture before coming to the UK to spend four years sorking on his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies (Comparative Literature), at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. This period, from 1980 to 1983, he still considers among the happiest and academically most profitable years of his life.

On obtaining his PhD in 1983, he spent the following 25 years teaching in five universities in Iraq, Libya, Jordan and Oman.

He is now spending a year at Exeter as Visiting Professor, having obtained a grant from the University of Baghdad with the support of Professor Gerd Nonneman (IAIS), to work on a project on the influence of Ernest Hemingway on the Iraqi novel.

Specializing in comparative literature, his main area of interest in recent years has been the ‘Other’ in modern Arabic literature – to which he has devoted three books, four papers and a large number of articles and essays.

Among his publications:

Books:

  • Essays on Criticism, Literature and l Literary Phenomenon, Irbid, Jordan: Modern Books World, 2010.
  • This Side of a Noisy Place, Studies in Arabic Novel, Irbid, Jordan: Modern Books World, 2010.
  • Homesick, Irbid, Jordan: Modern Books World, 2010
  • Novelistic Experience in Iraq, Vol.2, Baghdad, 2009.
  • Wild Paths, novel, Baghdad, 2007.
  • The Modern Arabic Novel and the Other, Irbid: Modern Books World, Jordan, 2007.
  • The Butterfly and the Spider, Studies in Maysaloon Hadi's Literature, Amman: Al-Shurooq House, 2006.
  • The Problem of Dialogue in the Iraqi Novel, Sharjah: Union of Emirati Writers, 2004.
  • On Comparative Literature, Amman: Osama House, 2001.
  • The Arabic Novel in Iraq 1965 - 1980 and the Influence of the American Novel, Baghdad: House of Cultural Affairs, 1987.
  • Novelistic Experience in Iraq, Vol.1, Baghdad: House of Cultural Affairs, 1986.

Articles / chapters:

  • “We and the Other in Modern Arabic Poetry”, Journal of the College of Arts, University of Baghdad, No. 73, 2009.
  • “Western Woman in the Arabic Novel”, Dirasat, No. 1, Sharjah, 2008.
  • "Narrative Criticism in Oman", Journal of Qatar University, 2007.
  • "Kafka in the Arabic Novel", Journal of Damascus University, 2007.
  • "Short Short Story", Journal of the College of Arts, University of Baghdad, No. 73, 2006.
  • "We and the Other in the Arabic Novel", Journal of the College of Arts, University of Baghdad, No. 71, 2005.
  • "The Problem of Dialogue in the Arabic Novel", Ajman Journal, 2003.
  • "The Image of Americans in Arabic Novel", in Sami Abdullah Khasawna (ed.), Arab-American Relations, Jordan University, Amman, 2001.
  • "The Mutual Influence on the Light of Reception-Response Theory", Journal of Damascus University, 2000.