An Island Unto Himself? Masculinity in Season of Migration t

An Island Unto Himself?
Masculinity In Season of Migration to the North

By: Brian Gibson

“Season of Migration to the North, one of the most controversial and popular Arabic novels of the 20th century, is largely seen as a dramatic analysis of colonial politics, wherein a narrator realizes the danger of becoming a Europeanized Arab who wishes to wreak vengeance on the North/West for his 'Orientalization.' Most critics of Tayeb Salih's novel naturally focus on its colonial politics, from Mustafa Sa'eed's adoption of an Oriental persona to his conquests of Englishwomen in order to avenge the ways in which the South/East has been penetrated and possessed by the North/West. Such readings of the novel usually lead to a focus on Mustafa Sa'eed, who is in fact the secondary protagonist; these arguments also link the book's colonial politics to its sexual politics. Building from such readings, I focus on the novel's representations of masculinity. These representations first problematize, then point the way toward resolving the complex sexual and colonial politics in a Sudan village as seen by a Europeanized Sudanese man. For it is the anonymous narrator who reveals the novel to be as much about the dilemma of his masculinity as about the sexualization of colonial politics. The narrator confronts three types of masculinity: the false, ego-driven, Europeanized man of lust; the #######-driven, conceited Sudanese who wishes to stave off death through #######; and the man of an older, patriarchal generation who simply survives, waiting patiently for death and caring little for himself. First through impotence and then through reaction, the narrator rejects the first two models and incorporates elements of the third into what is ultimately a radical break from masculinity—he embraces a human selfhood which transcends gender in order to balance community and ego. “
Brian Gibson
See the complete text at:
http://www.sudaneseonline.com/01/cs/cs_0/c_txt/0/2...2_1,gibson_brian.htm

Thanks Deraij for the link

From the link

It is only the narrator who acts with true free will; in a moment of transcendence and rebirth, he fights off death as he rediscovers his human-ness: life is not about existing within the constricting limits of an ego-driven masculinity, but about living simply and in harmony with both the self's needs and the greater good of the community. Yet that cry of "'Help!'" not only lingers as a warning to the "gentlemen" and the reader, but as a message from Salih to the wider world that no man is an island of the self, a conceited, #######-driven ego who can survive apart from others. This is a story told to other men, a story about masculinity, just as legendary Nile floods are "something for fathers to talk to their sons about" (45). It is also a story telling them to not be men like their fathers, but to be citizens of society. Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North calls, ultimately, not for a world of men but for a more human community.

I hope the message will get across and our society will change,

Afaf

Dear Afaf Rahim:

Quote: I hope the message will get across and our society will change,

Thank U for your passing by.
I believe arts and literature have tremendous contributions to make to the question of change.
M. Deraij