IN THE UNITED STATES 181by al-Sa'ih (founded in New York in 1912 by 'Abdul Masih Haddad). Other
reviews followed, one of the most interesting of which is al-Samir founded
by Iliya Abu Madi in 1929. Similarly Arabic journalism flourished in Latin
America, with, for instance, the illustrated literary review al-Andalus
al-Jadida in Rio de Janeiro edited by Shukrallah al-Jurr, and al-Sharq founded
in San Paolo.^1
Although in the Arab world the Mahjar poets are sometimes referred to as
one school of writing, there is, however, a noticeable difference between
the poets of the North and those of the South. On the whole the ones who
settled in Latin America are less extremist, and certainly less unanimous in
their reaction against traditional Arab culture; both in their theory and in
their practice, they show more concern for the preservation of traditional
cultural values-. For instance, while a poet like Fauzi al-Ma'luf advocated a
rejection of what he regarded as the outmoded Arabic poetic tradition, we
find another like Ilyas Farhat confirming his relationship to it. The differ-
ence can be seen even in the names they chose for their literary societies.
In Brazil, for instance, they called themselves al-'Usba al-Andalusiyya (the
Andalusian League), a name clearly harking back to the Arab past and
designed to establish a link with tradition, while in North America the
colourless name al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya (the Pen Association) was used. One
reason for this is, of course, the dominant influence of the revolutionary
Jibran upon the North American immigrants.
In the United States
It is not my intention to assess here the whole literary achievement of Jibran
Khalil Jibran (1883-1931), but merely to discuss very briefly the signi-
ficance of his contribution as a poet. Jibran is one of the distinguished
products of the Hikma school in Beirut. In 1895 he left for America via
Egypt and France. After spending three years in Boston, he returned to
Beirut at the age of fifteen to study Arabic and French. In 1903 he returned
to Boston where he remained for five years, after which he spent three years
in Paris, studying painting. In Paris he is claimed to have known the sculptor
Rodin, and was introduced to the work of William Blake, whose poetry and
painting, together with the work of Nietzsche, were destined to have a pro-
found effect upon him. When he had finished his art training Jibran returned
to America where he lived (in New York) till his death in 1931. In America
he was the most influential figure among the immigrant literary community.
His rebellion against outworn social customs and religious tyranny, no less
than his total rejection of outmoded literary modes and values, made him an