Abstract
Taking as its starting point Edward Said's appropriation of the concept of counterpoint, late style, and exile in Culture and Imperialism and On Late Style, this essay examines the thematic and literary implications of Nuruddin Farah's counterpoint and exile, as manifested in Maps. More concretely, building on Said's secular and humanist examination of counterpoint, late style, and exile as embodying a form of musical, aesthetic and sociopolitical criticism and resistance, this essay examines the way in which Nuruddin Farah addresses the aesthetic and home in Somalia as a counterpoint to the dictatorial masculine oppression of the regime from a contrapuntal and exilic perspective. The theme of postcolonial transnational feminism as a contrapuntal sign of resistance and late style is examined and interrogated in Farah's Maps in various ways. I investigate contrapuntally the way in which Somalian women, as portrayed in Farah's selected works, stand up to challenge the hegemonic patriarch and postcolonial regime in Somalia, as represented by the General Siad Barre and the oligarchy. Somalian female identity foregrounds itself in a pertinent and humanist way within a postcolonial feminist context.
Highlights
In this article, I will shed light on Nuruddin Farah’s unresolved paradox and contradictions of counterpoint, exile, and late style in terms of nomadism, the ambiguity of death, the myth of origins and maps, and the oral tradition of Somalia
As Farah takes up a moral and aesthetic responsibility to rewrite the story of the Somalian diaspora and dictatorship from scratch, he decides to reimagine Somalia from a distance and release the Somalian story from the reductionist grip of the one-sided regime which was monopolized by Siad Barre in the 1970s and later hijacked by the oligarchs
In Culture and Imperialism, Said contends that “counterpoint” is essentially a musical term which addresses “two contradictory themes playing at the same time and creating a harmonious melody” (1994: 31)
Summary
I will shed light on Nuruddin Farah’s unresolved paradox and contradictions of counterpoint, exile, and late style in terms of nomadism, the ambiguity of death, the myth of origins and maps, and the oral tradition of Somalia. As Farah takes up a moral and aesthetic responsibility to rewrite the story of the Somalian diaspora and dictatorship from scratch, he decides to reimagine Somalia from a distance and release the Somalian story from the reductionist grip of the one-sided regime which was monopolized by Siad Barre in the 1970s and later hijacked by the oligarchs. These themes will be examined in Farah’s (2000) Maps. Counterpoint can be used as a useful tool and critical approach to dismantle the canonized literary knowledge, to promote the values of solidarity and empathy, and to maintain an open-ended discourse of postcolonial resistance against imperialism, hegemony, and oppression
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