The 2000 romance novel Zabibah and the King was published anonymously by which author?
And the answer is: Saddam Hussein.
The late President of Iraq wrote four novels and a number of poems. The first two books were Zabibah and the King and The Fortified Castle, and were published anonymously.
Zabibah and the King is a nearly 200-page novel that deals in an allegorical romance between an Iraqi king and a villager named Zabibah. Though the narrative takes place in the distant past, it is clear that Hussein intended the character of the king to represent himself. The novel covers a series of long conversations on politics, free will and a number of other issues, though it lacks a real plot or direction. The novel was well-received in Iraq but a 2011 Guardian article describes the Zabibah-King relationship as "a tortuously extended metaphor".
Regardless of its reception, Zabibah and the King is a select cut from the elite literature genre known as "dictator lit". The book is now currently available on Amazon. Read if you dare.
