Analysis of critical discourse in the novel Season of migration to the north based on Fairclough’s pattern

The term "discourse analysis" was first used in 1952 in an article by the famous English linguist Zelik Harris. In this article, by presenting a formalist view, he described discourse analysis as merely a structuralist view of sentence and text. After him, many linguists considered discourse analysis as the analysis of the structure of spoken language, such as conversations and interviews. They also considered text analysis as the analysis of the structure of written language such as articles and stories. Critical discourse refers to a kind of evolutionary process of discourse analysis in which attention is paid to the affective processes in the formation of discourse by passing through the mere description of linguistic data. This type of discourse analysis benefits from both social and linguistic approaches. In the social approach to discourse, the situational context is explained, while the linguistic approach serves to describe the textual context.Methods and

One of the suitable contexts for critical discourse analysis is the novel. The novel Season of migration to the north has a special place in the field of modern Arabic novel writing. It was selected in 2001 by the Damascus Academy of Arabic Literature as the best Arabic novel of the twentieth century. Considering the importance of the position of this novel, its critique is also important from different viewpoints. The novel has unique elements to present from the perspective of critical discourse and is more consistent with the Fairclough model than with the various models available in this field.The present article examines the novel Season of migration to the north in a descriptive-analytical manner and at the three levels of the Fairclough model. It seeks to answer the questions ‘What will be the results of examining the external texture of the novel and analyzing it at the level of description?’, ‘What is the context of the novel at the level of explanation and ideology of Tayeb Saleh?’ and ‘In what titles and contents has the level of interpretation and internal context of the novel reached the stage of emergence?Research

After the development of the critical discourse analysis approach, novels were considered from the perspective of linguistic structure and discourse-oriented components, and books and articles were written about the novel Season of migration to the north., For example, Mohammad Shahin describes the character of Mustafa Saeed in his book entitled Literature and Myths (1996). Reza Nazemian, in an article entitled "Westernization or Orientalism in Arabic Novels" (2011), compares the novel of Tayeb Al-Saleh with several other novels, all of which are on the issue of confrontation of Eastern traditions with Western liberties and technology. Also, in an article entitled "Confrontation of place and its semantic functions in the novel The Season of the Stone to the North" (2013) by Majid Mohammadi et al., the confrontation of places has been emphasized to understand the concept of the confrontation between East and West. The paper has also considered a semantic function for the element of place, which arouses the reader's curiosity and advances the events of the story. Despite these valuable works, the study of this novel from the perspective of critical discourse has not been done in any of the articles and books so far. The present article is the first one in the field to examine this novel at three levels.

Critical discourse analysis is based on social constructivism. The critical discourse analysis of the novel Season of migration to the north is performed based on Fairclough's model at the three levels of description (including linguistic analysis), interpretation (discussion of the production and use of texts) and explanation (social factors and ideology). There are several results gained as presented below.At the descriptive level, the writer's language is generally fluent and understandable to readers and avoids mystery and myth. The style of expression is firm and has an honest tone. The author has used the terms primitive life, which indicates his interest in the original Arabic tradition and culture. Repetition in this novel, by mentioning Mustafa's affairs with Western women several times, shows the war against colonialism in the form of rape of Western women. Scenography and illustration make up a significant part of Tayeb Saleh's novel, which helps the reader to gain a deep understanding of the theme of the story.At the level of explanation, which expresses the author's ideology, the struggle against colonialism and its condemnation is manifested in the form of the confrontation of the main character of the story, Mustafa Saeed, with Western women. The hatred for colonialism takes shape in the main story space, where Mustafa desecrates Western women and eventually kills them. Therefore, the general view of the story and the dominant ideology in it is based on confronting the colonialists and expressing the real feelings of the eastern people to years of aggression and colonization.At the level of interpretation, the situational context of the novel is examined. The novel dates back to the years of Sudanese colonization. The presence of the colonizers and their influence can be seen throughout the novel. Also, in the field of intertextuality, the use of the character Atil (Othello) and Quranic concepts is evident in this novel. In the internal context, the author refers to the opposition between East and West.