Anxious Entanglements: Gothic Monstrosity, Abjection and World-Systems in FRANKENSTEIN IN BAGHDAD and THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS

Gothic literature frequently employs monstrosity to reveal deep-seated cultural anxieties, symbolically confronting fears of cultural exchange, imperialism, and historical violence. This article examines how Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad utilize resurrected Gothic beings to interrogate East-West power dynamics and imperial tensions. Employing Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection and Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-systems analysis, the article argues that Queen Tera and the Whatsitsname are abject entities who embody repressed historical traumas and challenge imperialist boundaries. Through detailed textual analysis, this paper demonstrates how both novels expose anxieties around cultural appropriation and the violent legacies of imperialism, highlighting the haunting entanglements between Europe and the Middle East.