July 2016 | Nate Pedersen

Saddam Hussein Novella to be Translated into English

c917330f69622313f81144ce2e103346.jpgA new volume is about to be added to the strange and bizarre library of literature written by dictators.


The last fictional offering of the late Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, will be translated into English and published by UK publisher Hesperus. Entitled variously as "Get Out You Damned One," or "Begone Devils," the novella was written in 2003 and smuggled out of Iraq after the American invasion by Hussein's daughter Raghad Saddam Hussein.  Raghad secured a Jordan publishing deal for the book as early as 2005, however it was quickly banned from sale, resulting in an outpouring of offerings of the book on the black market. The book surfaced again in Japan in 2006 where Tokuma Shoten published it under the title "Devil's Dance." Hesperus, in its turn, will release the English version of the novella in December of 2016, timing their release with the tenth anniversary of Hussein's execution.


While the novella was Hussein's final literary contribution, it was by no means his first. He also wrote the novels "Zabibah and the King" (2000), "The Fortified Castle" (2001), and "Men and the City" (2002), in addition to his memoirs. Like most dictators who dabbled in literature, Hussein had his novels added to the national school syllabus throughout the country he ruled. 


Hesperus described the final Hussein book as "a mix between Game of Thrones and the UK House of Cards-style fiction," in an interview with The Guardian, but that they would be "keeping the rest secret until Christmas."