Intertextual Analysis of the Novels Heart of a Dog and Frankenstein in Baghdad based on the Intertextuality of Michael Riffaterre

Intertextuality theory, one of the new approaches to literary criticism in the twentieth century, suggests a way of analyzing literary texts based on the comparison. Michael Riffaterre, one of the theorists in this field, tried to explain the types of relations that one text may have with other texts. Accordingly, this paper intends to examine the intertextual link between the two novels of Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov and Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmad Saadawi, adopting the intertextual theoretical views of Riffaterre. The findings of this study show that there are several textual and narrative similarities between these two novels in characterization, theme, and narrative. They rooted in the same allegory used in these two novels to reflect the political and social situations. According to Riffaterre’s theory, this can reveal the similar views and reactions of Mikhail Bulgakov and Ahmad Saadawi in response to the political and social currents of their times.