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

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