81 pages • 2 hours read
Tayeb SalihSeason of Migration to the North
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
Season of Migration to the North
- Genre: Fiction; literary
- Originally Published: 1966
- Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
- Structure/Length: 10 chapters; approx. 169 pages
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: The unnamed narrator of this story returns to his village in Sudan after years of study in Europe. When he meets enigmatic Mustafa Sa’eed, he is drawn into a conflict between Europe and Africa, men and women, and tradition and innovation, the likes of which he might not survive.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Sexual assault; colonialism; violence against women; murder; misogyny; racism; suicide; female/male genital mutilation/circumcision
Tayeb Salih, Author
- Bio: 1929-2009; Sudanese writer, journalist for BBC Arabic, and staff member for UNESCO; graduate of the University of Khartoum and University of London; Season of Migration to the North is considered one of the most important novels in Arabic literature; draws inspiration from his youth in Sudan; a group of his friends honored him with $20,000 in 1998, which he used to establish the Tayeb Salih Creative Writing Award; has two other writing awards named in his honor: the al-Tayeb Salih Prize for Literary Creativity and the al-Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing
- Other Works: The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories (1968); Bandarshah (1996)
- Awards: Arab Literary Academy’s Best Novel in Arabic of the Twentieth Century (1966)
