The young narrator of Season of Migration to the North returns to his hamlet in Sudan, located along the Nile, after spending several years studying in Europe. It is the 1960s, and he is keen to contribute to the new postcolonial life of his nation. He is also eager to contribute to the world.
When he returned to his hometown, he found that among the people he knew from his boyhood, there was a new face: the mysterious Mustafa Sa’eed. Mustafa lets the young man into his confidence.
Season of Migration to the North by Salih Tayeb [Download pdf Below]
He tells him the story of his years in London, his brilliant career as an economist, and the series of troubled and deadly relationships with European women that led to a terrible public reckoning and his return to his native land.
Advertisements
During this time, Mustafa takes the young man under his wing and tells him the story of his years in London, his brilliant career as an economist, and these relationships.
But what exactly does Mustafa mean when he makes this surprising confession? The young man, whom Mustafa had asked to look after his wife, is left in an unstable and violent no-land man between Europe and Africa, tradition and innovation, holiness and defilement, and man and woman, from which no one will emerge unchanged or unharmed. Mustafa vanishes without explaining his disappearance.
Season of Migration to the North is a work that is both profoundly honest and lyrically radiant; it is also a work that is rich and sensual. It was deemed the most significant Arab novel of the twentieth century by a group of Arab authors and critics in 2001, and they chose it as their winner.
Advertisements
