The Literature Book

223

See also: One Thousand and One Nights 44–45

C

olonial empires began their

inevitable decline in the

aftermath of World War I,

thanks partly to the war’s impact

on the centers of Western culture.

Literary orientations, topics, and

themes began to reflect the new

shift in the balance between

colonizers and colonized. Among

the many postcolonial narratives to

emerge, those emanating from the

Arab world of North African and

Middle Eastern countries came to

international prominence.

Diversity of ideas

Lebanese writer, philosopher, and

artist Khalil Gibran (1833–1931; also

known as Kahlil) was one of the

most acclaimed authors to emerge

out of the blossoming pool of Arab

intellectuals. His own Christian

upbringing and his interest in the

teachings of Islam, Sufism, and

Judaism represented a break

from the traditional link between

geographical and spiritual beliefs,

and were the major influences on

his English collection of illustrated

prose poems titled The Prophet.

In this book, Gibran uses a style

familiar in religious scripture and

sermons to deliver short speeches

spoken by the prophet Almustafa

to a diverse crowd as he is about

to depart by boat from the city of

Orphalese. The 26 essays range

from reflections on love, passion,

children, and eating, to thoughts

on justice, time, evil, and death.

The essays emphasize human

relationships and encompass

themes of diversity and a universal

love that is free from the bounds of

a single belief system. ■

BREAKING WITH TRADITION

LOVE GIVES NAUGHT

BUT ITSELF AND

TAKES NAUGHT BUT

FROM ITSELF

THE PROPHET (1923), KAHLIL GIBRAN

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Modern Arabic voices

AFTER

1935 Prolific writer and

scholar Taha Hussein, the

“Dean of Arabic Literature,”

tells of an Egyptian author’s

struggle between Arab and

European culture in his novel

A Man of Letters, played out

between Cairo and Paris

during World War I.

1956–57 Naguib Mahfouz’s

The Cairo Trilogy follows a

Cairene family from the 1919

Egyptian Revolution against

British colonial rule to nearly

the end of World War II in 1944,

highlighting the personal,

social, and political struggle of

a changing city and country.

1985 The Sand Child, written

in French by Tahar Ben

Jelloun, explores and critiques

issues of traditional Islamic

values, gender politics, and the

construction of identity in a

postcolonial Moroccan setting.

These things move within

you as lights and shadows

in pairs that cling.

The Prophet

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