Season of Migration to the North

Rating:
Summary: Timeless Classic - A Dream
Review: "Season of Migration to the North" is simply an undiscovered gem among literary works. The work presents a story of a mysterious character who after being educated in Sudan follows his quest for knowledge to the "cold north" of London.
Seemingly a simple story develops into a complex character study weaved in with issues of colonialism in African countries, the effect of economics on the distrubution of wealth in the world, the meaning of economics as an academic discipline, and most importantly a quest for a personal and cultural identity - the paradox of diaspora.
The work is beautifully translated, as the reader will notice thus contributing to its lyrical and precise execution in which every word counts. The format in which the work is presented might confuse a few people but is highly relevant to the character and plot development.
For those familiar with Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" this will prove to be a worthwhile read which takes the concepts adressed in Ellison's work to a next level.
Also recommended is a film "The Wedding in Galilee" for further deconstruction and interpretation.

Rating:
Summary: Longing to return, or who are you, Mrs. Robinson?
Review: He had spent seven years studying in Europe. He returned to Sudan, his small village at the bend on the Nile. His grandfather was knowledgeable about the geneology of everyone in the village. A new man was present in the village, Mustafa, who had been there for about five years. He came from the outskirts of Khartoum.

Mustafa was a posthumous child. He and his mother were each other's only relatives. From childhood Mustafa felt that he was different from others. Mustafa agreed to go to school just when they were first being started by the colonizers for village youth. He had a wonderful ability to memorize his lessons. His teachers admired him as a prodigy, but he paid them no mind. After three years he had exhausted the country's academic resources. He was advised to study abroad. It was arranged that he depart for Cairo to attend secondary school. In Cairo he stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. He paid no attention to the love they showered on him. He learned music and literature in Cairo, but enjoyed nothing.

Later he went to England where he killed Jean Morris. Possibly he was the cause of Ann Hammond's suicide and the deaths of others. He was appointed a lecturer in economics at London University at age twenty four. Mustafa died, the but narrator, in his work at the minstry of education, keeps running into him since he had been a most brilliant and notorious student. The narrator, Effendi, is guardian of Mustafa Sa-eed's wife and children. Mustafa was the first student from Sudan to study in Cairo and England. (He dies from drowning at some point between the narrator's visits to the village and to his grandfather.) Unfortunately his wife kills a geriatric suitor and then kills herself. She had threatened violence if forced into a situation against her will. She had wanted to marry the narrator, the guardian of her sons, but he had been disinclined to take her as a second wife.

In Mustafa Sa-eed's house the narrator comes upon many books of zoology, mathematics, astronomy, geology, economics, history, fiction poetry, sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and political science--all seemingly products of a superior English education. There are no books in Arabic. Why did his women companions commit suicide? The women projected on him dark and strange emotions. Mrs. Robinson wrote to the narrator that he was a tortured child and was the dearest thing that happened to her husband and to herself. Drawings by Mustafa Sa-eed revealed real talent. The narrator had the sense that Mustafa Sa-eed wanted to be discovered, that he wanted the narrator to sort through his things and begin to understand him. Jean Morris was being unfaithful to him. He felt that the tragedy had to play itself out. She kissed the dagger he held, fervently, urging him on. Tragedy ensued.

The novel is expressive. It recounts the sort of trials an extraordinary person might encounter who embarks upon life hobbled by emotional fragility and compelled to thread his way between two cultures.

Rating:
Summary: Longing to return, or who are you, Mrs. Robinson?
Review: He had spent seven years studying in Europe. He returned to Sudan, his small village at the bend on the Nile. His grandfather was knowledgeable about the geneology of everyone in the village. A new man was present in the village, Mustafa, who had been there for about five years. He came from the outskirts of Khartoum.

Mustafa was a posthumous child. He and his mother were each other's only relatives. From childhood Mustafa felt that he was different from others. Mustafa agreed to go to school just when they were first being started by the colonizers for village youth. He had a wonderful ability to memorize his lessons. His teachers admired him as a prodigy, but he paid them no mind. After three years he had exhausted the country's academic resources. He was advised to study abroad. It was arranged that he depart for Cairo to attend secondary school. In Cairo he stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. He paid no attention to the love they showered on him. He learned music and literature in Cairo, but enjoyed nothing.

Later he went to England where he killed Jean Morris. Possibly he ws the cause of Ann Hammond's suicide and the deaths of others. He was appointed a lecturer in economics at London University at age twenty four. Mustafa died, the but narrator, in his work at the minstry of education, keeps running into him since he had been a most brilliant and notorious student. The narrator, Effendi, is guardian of Mustafa Sa-eed's wife and children. Mustafa was the first student from Sudan to study in Cairo and England. (He dies from drowning at some point between the narrator's visits to the village and to his grandfather.) Unfortunately his wife kills a geriatric suitor and then kills herself. She had threatened violence if forced into a situation against her will. She had wanted to marry the narrator, the guardian of her sons, but he had been disinclined to take her as a second wife.

In Mustafa Sa-eed's house the narrator comes upon many books of zoology, mathematics, astronomy, geology, economics, history, fiction poetry, sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and political science--all seemingly products of a superior English education. There are no books in Arabic. Why did his women companions commit suicide? The women projected on him dark and strange emotions. Mrs. Robinson wrote to the narrator that he was a tortured child and was the dearest thing that happened to her husband and to herself. Drawings by Mustafa Sa-eed revealed real talent. The narrator had the sense that Mustafa Sa-eed wanted to be discovered, that he wanted the narrator to sort through his things and begin to understand him. Jean Morris was being unfaithful to him. He felt that the tragedy had to play itself out. She kissed the dagger he he held, fervently, urging him on. Tragedy ensued.

The novel is expressive. It recounts the sort of trials an extraordinary person might encounter who embarks upon life hobbled by emotional fragility and compelled to thread his way between two cultures.

Rating:
Summary: Only one (1! ) star
Review: Nothing special here. Just a story of a sex maniac from Sudan. Tayeb Salih uses flowery language to address basic themes (such as west vs east cutures) found in most cultural books. For a book this thin, I found it to be pretty disturbing and boring.

Rating:
Summary: Outline for a novel
Review: Really a novella with only 169 pages, would have made a great book with an extra 200 pages or so, I found Season of Migration to the North interesting but only skimming the surface. Also though some parts flow almost like poetry with descriptions of place settings in the Sudan beautifully told, I felt there was something missing in the translation, it was difficult at times to follow the changes in narrators and time periods.

Story opens with a teacher in a village in Sudan, he has been away for some years, and when he returns meets a new man, Mustafa, who has married and settled in the village. Mustafa's history is eventually revealed, born with his mother as his only family, his intellectual abilities and brilliance was noticed early, British people took over his education, and when he reached his late teens moved to England. Because of his big brain and success he is welcomed by British society and could go far but Mustafa's weakness is his insatiable womanizing. His seductions by creating a prototype African image for himself are hilarious. The problem is that his girlfriends all seem to commit suicide, except for one - the woman that he does marry, Jean Morris, he has a masochistic attachment to reminiscent of "Of Human Bondage".

So much stuff touched on both in the village in Sudan and in the experiences of a Sudanese in London and so little explored and explained.