The postcolonial gothic: creating a supernatural anti-hero in tayeb salih's season of migration to the north

This study examines how Tayeb Salih uses intertextuality, the Romantic Gothic and supernaturalism in his novel Season of Migration to the North to create a postcolonial subversive novel. Season of Migration to the North narrates the journey of the Byronic protagonist of the novel, Mustafa Saeed, and within his character arc the Orient’s relationship with the West. The study analyses this relationship through the theories of Edward Said and Homi Bhabha, specifically applying the ideas of Orientalism and Hybridity to the narrative’s Postcolonial message. Salih, through the use of supernaturalism and intertextual links with Gothic literary texts, creates a mythical legendary figure out of his protagonist. This dissertation research asked how the narrative employed folklore, myth and legend to create a supernatural anti-hero and how the utilisation of the Gothic elements in the novel could be applied to Postcolonial discourse. The study reveals that the Gothic genre has a long history associated with subversion. Season of Migration to the North applies the motifs of the Gothic genre to create a narrative that is both subversive and existential in nature, analysing the state of being a post-colonial identity. The narrative uses intertextual connections with Gothic novels to observe the fractured identity which is a result of becoming post-colonial. This fracturing of identity is evaluated through the themes of silence and violence and the effectiveness of reacting to colonial traumas with subversive violence in an effort to achieve Black liberation and seems to advocate against violence as a form of subversion. The study recommends a further exploration of the meta-ethical ideas in the novel and the intertextual links the narrative has with Gothic literature.