Season of Migration to the North is a 1966 classic post-colonial Sudanese novel by Tayeb Salih.
The novel begins with the unnamed narrator returning to his Sudanese village after seven years abroad. In all the familiar faces, one stands out as a stranger - the older man Mustafa Sa'eed, who is aloof, unimpressed by the narrator's accomplishments, and — most strange of all — recites English poetry one night when drunk. The narrator, struck, insists that Sa'eed tell him the truth of who he really is, since he is clearly not just a 'man from Khartoum', and Sa'eed tells his life story in return.
This novel includes examples of:
- Marital Rape License: Wad Rayyes is an old man who wants to marry Bint Mamoud, Mustafa Sa'eed's widow. In the horrific aftermath of him doing this, it's clear that this occurred - he felt entitled to rape Bint Mamoud since she was now his wife.
- Tragic Monster: Mustafa Sa'eed is a heavily allegorical version of this, being a heartless monster towards women and a murderer but also deeply a product of colonialism.
- Where da White Women At?: A deconstruction and examination of this trope. Mustafa Sa'eed uses the exotification of his Arab-African heritage to seduce white women.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Mustafa Sa'eed is constantly subject to this, even being called 'the black Englishman'.
