BIOGRAPHY: KAHLIL GIBRAN 1883 - 1931 ==================================== COURTESY OF KAHLIL GIBRAN ONLINE - www.kahlil.

org ================================================= Born Gibran Khalil Gibran in Bsharri (Bet Sharre, the place of kings), Lebanon o n 6th January 1883, Gibran was one of the four children of Khalil Gibran (father ) and Kamila Rahmeh (mother). His half-brother, Peter (or Butrus) was 6 years h is senior and he had two younger sisters - Mariana and Sultana. The family were impoverished largely as a result of his fathers gambling, and Gi bran received no formal education. His mother's deeply religious convictions we re instilled in him from an early age and the education he received was provided by a local priest. Recognising Gibran's inquisitive and active mind the priest took to teaching him the Syriac and Arabic languages together with fundamantal religious and biblica l teachings. Through this informal teaching Gibran developed an interest in sci ence, languages and history. In 1891 the family were left homeless after the authorities seized their propert y, the consequence of his father being convicted for tax evasion. Whilst his fa ther was in prison the family stayed with relatives before emigrating to America in 1895. Although his father had been released from prison the previous year h e chose to remain in Lebanon. Being Arabic the family were treated as second class citizens. His mother made a living as best she could by peddling goods on the impoverished streets of Bost on. His sisters were denied an education due to Middle Eastern traditions and f inancial hardship. It was thanks to charitable institutions that Gibran was abl e to attend Denison House School and it was here, that an error on a registratio n form, changed his name forever to Kahlil Gibran. Kamila was a strong-minded and determined woman and through hard work she manage d to save some money and improve conditions for the family. The money enabled P eter to open up a goods store in which Mariana and Sultana also worked. Although a quiet and introverted child who spent much of his time alone, Gibran developed an interest in the artistic and cultural side of Boston and he attende d operas, theatre and art galleries. His teachers recognised and encouraged his artistic ability and introduced the 13 year old Gibran to Fred Holland Day, an artist and supporter of the arts. Day opened up a world of writing, photography , literature and mythology to the young boy and greatly improved his low self-es teem. Gibran learned fast and his artistic talents developed under the tutelage of Day, so much so that in 1898 his images were used as cover designs for books and he began to make a name for himself. Concerned that at such an early age, too much success could cause problems later in life, it was agreed that Gibran would return to Lebanon to finish his educat ion at Al-Hikmah school in Beirut and learn Arabic and pursue a reformist Arabic curriculum. In 1902 when he left college he was a self-confident, determined y oung man who had excelled in poetry and his other studies. News from the United States was not good, his mother had developed cancer, Peter was struck with consumption and Sultana had tuberculosis. Gibran set out for A merica but arrived too late, on 4th April 1902 Sultana had died at the age of 14 . Peter had abandoned the family store and left for Cuba, it fell to Gibran to look after the store and provide for the family, something he would have preferr

ed not to do as it impeded on his artistic pursuits. In February 1903 Peter returned from Cuba, he was to die of consumption a few da ys later. In June that same year, his mother was also to die from the cancer th at had spread throughout her body. In the wake of the three deaths Gibran sold the store and threw himself into the task of improving his Arabic and English, a pursuit he would continue all his life. Meanwhile, Fred Holland Day and Josephi ne Peabody, a young artist who had caught Gibran's attention, were helping prepa re his acclaimed debut art exhibition. During the course of the exhibition Gibr an met Mary Haskell, who at 30 years of age was 10 years his senior, this relati onship would last his lifetime and Mary was to be instrumental in shaping the de velopment of the budding artist. It was on her recommendation that he changed t o writing in English, having previously written in Arabic and subsequently trans lating the work. 1904 was the year of Gibran's first published work, an article entitled 'Vision' in the Arabic newspaper Al-Mouhajer. He continued writing for the paper and th e following year wrote a column called Tears and laughter, this would later form the basis of his book - A Tear and a Smile. That same year he published his fi rst book (in Arabic) entitled Nubthah fi Fan Al-Musiqa (Music) which was inspire d by his visits with Day to the opera and Peters music playing. A second book followed in 1906 - Arayis Al-Muruj (The Nymphs of the Valley), thi s was a collection of three allegories, namely Martha, Yuhanna the Mad and Dust of Ages and The Eternal Fire. These were heavily influenced by the stories he h ad heard in Bsharri and revolved around religious persecution, prostitution and reincarnation. Two years later and a third book, again in Arabic, was published. This focused on the social issues in Lebanon and causes close to Gibran's heart. The book, A l-Arwah Al-Mutamarridah (Spirits Rebellious), was derived from the column in AlMouhajer and consisted of four narratives which dwelt on subjects including the emancipation of women, criticism of the clergy and the injustices of the Lebanes e feudal system. It was not well received by the clergy who threatened to excom municate him, nor by the Syrian Government who censored the book. Gibran studied art in Paris for a short time in 1908, unwilling to accept the ac ademies strict formal education, he left to tour London and thereafter rely on h is own artistic style and temperament. He learned in June 1909 of the death of his father in Lebanon. After traveling abroad Gibran returned to America in lat e 1910, shortly after his return he proposed to Mary but she turned him down on the grounds of the age difference. Fortunately this did not end the relationshi p between the two and it developed into a long term and important artistic colla boration. In the spring of 1911 Gibran was to move to New York where he worked on his next book. The Broken Wings was his longest Arabic novel and, as with so much of hi s writing, dealt with the more gloomy aspects of life; in this case, the ill-fat ed affair of a married woman with a younger man and her ultimate death during ch ildbirth. By now Gibran was making a name for himself in New York and was being well recei ved, not entirely due to his creativity but thanks also in part to Mary's networ k of contacts and her continued financial support. In complete contrast to his boyhood he was now a confident young man with an alluring personality and this h elped cement his success. Mary's role was to become more influential as both me ntor and editor and through Mary he honed his English and cultural skills. By 1913 Gibran had started writing his first book in English - The Madman. He h ad long been fascinated by the treatment of people deemed to be mad in his home

country of Lebanon. Madness was seen as the result of demonic possession and it was left to the church to treat people, it was this treatment that provided the foundation for the book. Two further books were to follow in quick succession. First was Jesus The Son o f Man, his longest work in English and inspired by Gibran's admiration of Jesus. Next came Kitab Dam'ah wa Ibtisamah (A Tear and A Smile) which was his fifth b ook in Arabic and was an anthology of his earlier writings in Al-Mouhajer newspa per. At the same time he and Mary had been editing and revising the series of p arables that formed The Madman. During the years of the First World War, Gibran involved himself more closely wi th politics, he hoped for the liberation of Syria from Ottoman rule, he called o n both Muslim and Christian forces to unite their military forces and focus thei r efforts against the oppressive Ottoman rule and often fantasised about his rol e as a political hero and fighter leading his country to liberation. In reality there was little he could do and this depressed him, a situation compounded by a childhood injury to his shoulder which now troubled him further. Famine ravag ed The Levant and Gibran set about raising funds in the States to assist the sta rving. To keep his mind occupied on thoughts other than the war, he sought to further h is acceptance in New York and in 1916 joined the literary board of The Seven Art s Magazine, something he was to take great pride in as he was the first immigran t to join the board. His acceptance within literary circles grew and he found h imself in demand from people wanting to hear recitations from his writings. In 1918 The Madman reached publication, his first English work to do so. It was very well received and critics often compared him to Tagore, the respected Indi an writer. On the strength of it's success his popularity soared and he began t o lose contact with old acquaintances, preferring instead the company of new fou nd friends. Later that same year he wrote another Arabic poem called 'Al-Mawakib' (The Proce ssion), this was his first serious attempt at writing in traditional Arabic. Th e poem was published but received little acclaim. Throughout his life Gibran sought to further the advance of Arabic literature an d to this end he joined many societies and magazines. In 1911 he founded Arrabi tah Al-Qalamyiah, an Arab organisation dedicated to promoting Arabic writings an d literature worldwide, the organisation focused on the desire for greater artis tic freedom and called on writers to develop their own individual styles instead of following the constraints of the accepted norm. These platforms served not o nly their intended purposes but also as a means for Gibran to further his own ad vancement and as an introduction to people who would help guide his development. All the while his political standpoint angered Syria's politicians, moreso over Gibran's openly expressed disapproval at the way the Syrian region was being div ided into Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. He urged politicians to adopt aspects o f the Western culture and was forthright in his opinions about cultural makeup o f countries and the way in which their citizens should be able to lead their liv es. He continued his Arabic writings and by 1922 began to complain of heart trouble, something which was later attributed to his nervous psychological state. Gibra n told Mary "My greatest pain is not physical. There's something big in me.... I 've always known it and I can't get it out. It's a silent greater self, sitting watching a smaller somebody in me doing all sorts of things." 1923 saw the publication of Gibran's greatest work - The Prophet. The seeds of

The Prophet had been planted many years earlier by Josephine Peabody who often referred to Gibran as 'her young prophet' and had herself written an eleven stan za poem about Gibran's childhood in Bsharri. By 1918 Gibran was formulating an Ara bic work which was to have been titled My Island Man and was based on a Prometh ean man's exile to an island, the banished man being called Al Mustafa. Initial ly the book was to have included a separate work related to the story of Al Must afa (the Chosen One) and this work was to have been called The Commonwealth. Th e origins of The Prophet can also be traced back to an Arabic work written when Gibran was 16 in which a man discussed various subjects amongst a group of peopl e in an inn. Further influences can be attributed to the conversations Gibran h ad with Mary, the subjects of which included love, life, death, marriage and oth ers that can be found in the pages of The Prophet. Mary's role in developing The Prophet was crucial. Following the success of The Madman, a book written in English, she encouraged Gibran to change from Arabic to English when writing The Prophet. Mary had always preferred the title of 'The Counsels' but on this occasion Gibran would not be swayed, consequently the boo k was published as The Prophet, and although it met with limited success it was, in time, to become one of the most famous and inspirational religious works of the twentieth century. By now Gibran had mastered the command of the English language and he was less a nd less reliant on Mary's opinions and editorial skills. Further, his success b rough with it financial independence and he was able to repay his debts to Mary by sending her several of his paintings. She remained an important part of his life and an inspiration for many of the illustrations he used in his books. Gibran developed an acquaintance with May Ziadeh, an Arab writer who had first b een drawn to Gibran's work through his book The Broken Wings. May was an intell ect and a strong supporter of women's emancipation and although The Broken Wings was too liberal for her mind, the subject of women's rights was common ground t o both her and Gibran. This was an avenue both actively pursued and in time, Ma y was to replace Mary as advisor and editor to Gibran's writings. During the 1920's Gibran changed his attitudes to his own writings. His Arabic works were largely political or focused on cultural and social issues and the ne ed for the emerging Arab countries to adopt Western cultures. These caused cont roversy in the Arab world and although relishing the controversy, it did mean li mited success in Arab countries. Consequently he concentrated on writing in Eng lish and creating his own style of writing and language. Mary married in 1926 and moved to Savannah, Georgia - the home of her new husban d, a southern landowner called Florance Minis, her involvement with Gibran dwind led but not before he confided in her about his intention to write and publish t wo continuations of The Prophet. The first was to be The Garden Of The Prophet and would recount the stories Al M ustafa had told his followers in his island garden and the second was to have be en The Death Of The Prophet in which Al Mustafa left the island only to be impri soned and stoned to death in the market place. Sadly, Gibran never published th ese works, due largely to deteriorating health and his pre-occupation in writing Jesus The Son Of Man. Gibran's advancement continued and by 1926 he was recogn ised and accepted on an international scale - much to his liking. To further th is he began contributing regular articles to the journal The New Orient, an inte rnational publication seeking to encourage the meeting of East and West. At the same time he began work on a new book called Lazarus And His Beloved, a series of four dramatic poems telling the story of the Biblical character Lazarus.

By the end of 1926 Gibran was submitting draft copies of Jesus,The Son Of Man to Mary for editing and comment. In November 1928 the book was finally published and was well received by the critics who delighted in Gibran's portrayal of Jesu s. Due in part to the success and acclaim of this work Gibran received many hon ours but all was not well. A few months prior, his health had began to deteriorate and his body was wracked with nervous pains. Gibran turned to alcohol as a means of escape and soon bec ame an alcoholic. Doctors diagnosed an enlarged cancerous liver but ignoring me dical advice and the issues of illness he relied instead on heavy drinking and i mmersing himself in his work, most notably a book which was to be published in 1 930 called The Earth Gods. Originally written in 1911 it recounted the story of three earth gods who witnessed the drama of a young couple falling in love. Gibran was trapped in a vicious circle, he drank to alleviate the pain in his li ver but in doing so only exacerbated the problem. His condition deteriorated ra pidly and all hopes of him finishing the sequel to The Prophet - The Garden Of T he Prophet were gone. He confided to May Ziadeh that he was "A small volcano wh ose opening had been closed". Gibran died in a New York hospital on 10th April 1931 aged 48, the result of his cancer spreading. The people of New York held a two day vigil and he was mourn ed in America and Lebanon. In his will he left substantial sums of money to the people of Lebanon in order that they remain in the country and develop it rather than emigrate. In July 1931 Mary and his sole surviving sister, Marianna, travelled to Lebanon and buried Gibran in his hometown of Bsharri. Fulfilling a wish he had expresse d some years earlier, Mary and Marianna negotiated the purchase of the Mar Sarki s Monastery and in 1932 Gibran was moved to his final resting place. It had als o been his wish to establish a library in Bsharri and on the suggestion of Mary, his belongings, books and some of his works and drawings were used to create a library and museum in the monastery. CREDITS The above biography has been condensed and rewritted from a more detailed versio n by Dania Saadi and available at http://leb.net/gibran/Biography.