Eros on the Nile: Freud and Colonialism in Season of Migration to the North

This post has been contributed by Deborah Beach.

Season of Migration To The North by Tayeb Salih is a complex novel that explores the relationship between Arab world and the European world in post-colonial Sudan. Often cited as a post-colonial response to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the novel has been banned in many countries, including Egypt for 30 years (Shehadeh, 2011), for “It was denounced as decadent, insulting of religion and pornographic”. The latter charge being a reference to the powerful story arc of Mustafa Sa’eed’s sexual exploits which culminate in murder, tragedy and suicide.

Christoper Nassaar (1998) writes that the novel explores the link between the Freudian concepts of Eros and Death, as the author Salih found himself deeply inspired by the works of Freud, especially since he viewed “Freud’s theory of man as divided up between Eros and Death” (Salih, quoted in Nassaar). In Nassaar’s article Death is referred to as Thanatos, which is a post-Freudian termed use to describe the concept of the death drive. “Most of the main characters in Season submit to Thanatos” (Nassar 1998), either by suicide or murder; regardless of race, gender or religion. All of these characters have been tied up with romance, for example Jean Morris and Mustafa Sa’eed, again demonstrating the link between Eros and Death.

Nassaar offers the intriguing interpretation that the suicide of these women should be considered as an ode or a metaphor to the Second World War in particular Jean Morris. Arguably Jean Morris represents England who invites Mustafa to kill her in the winter of 1939, the eve of the War. Nassaar builds upon this with the suggestion that Mustafa symbolizes the battles in Africa and the enlisted African men. In the novel there are some militaristic elements which support this interpretation, references to Mustafa being “the invader who had come from the South” and Jean being “an icy battlefield” (Salih, 160).

Nassaar provides us with food for thought by exploring this rich novel by exploring the themes of colonialism and the inescapable inevitability that drives Eros and Thanatos.

Works Cited

Salih, Tayeb. Season of Migration to the North. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1995. Print.

Nassaar, Christopher S. ‘Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Salih’s Season of Migration to the North.’ Explicator 56.2 (1998): 105-108. Web. <http://literature.proquest.com/contents/abl_toc/ExplicatorHelenDwightReidEducat/19980101.jsp>.

Links

• Shehadeh, Raja. ‘Book Of A Lifetime: Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih.’ The Independent, 4 March 2011. Web. 19 January 2016. <http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-season-of-migration-to-the-north-by-tayeb-salih-2231224.html>.
• Blog post on Season of Migration to the North and ‘How to Write About Africa’.