Merging Eastern and Western philosophies, Gibran was influenced by his Lebanese childhood, his adopted America, and the time he spent studying art with Auguste Rodin in Paris. Read how he lost his first name, made his first fame, and more in a short biography. Shorter still, but no less illustrative of the artist is this quote
Lebanon had been convulsed by religious violence only twenty years before his birth, but for Gibran the underlying unity beneath the various forms of religion overruled all differences. As a student he even drew up plans for a opera house to be built in Beirut with two domes symbolizing the reconciliation of Christianity and Islam. The dream eventually bore fruit, albeit only on paper, in Almustafa, "the chosen and the beloved", who is the main character in his best known work. The Prophet is said to be the second best selling book in the United States, after the Bible.
Gibran's influence on popular culture in the twentieth century cannot be overestimated. When the American president John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Speech famously cautioned his fellow countrymen
he was quoting from The New Frontier which Gibran had written thirty six years earlier:
1905 | Al-Musiqa (The Music) |
1906 | Ara'is Al-Murudj (Nymphs Of The Valley) |
1907 | Stonefolds |
1907 | On The Treshold |
1908 | Al-Arwah Al-Mutamarridah (Spirits Rebellious) |
1910 | Daily Bread |
1912 | Fires |
1912 | Al-Ajniha Al-Mutakassirah (The Broken Wings) |
1914 | Dam'ah Wa Ibtisamah (A Tear and a Smile) |
1918 | The Madman (35 parables and aphorisms) |
1919 | Al-Mawakib (The Procession, ode in classical Arabic) |
1920 | The Forerunner |
1920's | You Have Your Lebanon And I Have My Lebanon |
1923 | The Prophet (28 short stories and poems) |
1925 | The New Frontier |
1926 | Sand And Foam |
1928 | Jesus, The Son Of Man (79 testimonies) |
1931 | The Earth Gods |
1932 | The Wanderer (52 parables and sayings) |
1933 | The Garden Of The Prophet |
1933 | Lazarus And His Beloved |
1933 | The Death Of The Prophet |
1947 | Tears And Laughter |
1947 | Satan |
1994 | The Vision, Reflections on the Way of the Soul |
1997 | The Beloved, Reflections on the Path of the Heart I Believe In You My Countrymen Your Thought and Mine Picture Gallery |
I am alive like you, and now I stand beside you.
Close your eyes and look around, you will see me in front of you.
(Gibran's epitaph)