LITERATURE OF LEBANON

Background of Lebanon
 Arabic and Western cultures both influenced Lebanese literature which mostly deals
with the history and philosophy.
 Lebanon is a part of Southernwestern Asia, and it is located at approximately 35°N.
35 °N W. Stretching along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean its length almost
three times its width.
 The are a of Lebanon is approximately 10,452 square kilometers 14, 036 sq ml. The
country is roughly rectangulars in shape becoming narrower toward the south and
the farthest north. Its widest point is 88 kilometers (55ml) and its narrowest is 32
kilometers (20m) the average width is about 56 kilometers (35 mi).
 Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate characterized by a long hot and dry summer
and cool rainy winter.

BAALBEK TEMPLE
 Home to the largest ever Roman temple and a range of other magnificent
ancient structures.
 CAPITAL OF LEBANON
 Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon and located on a peninsula at the midpoint of
its Mediterranean coast. Beirut is the country's largest and main seaport and is
one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago.

RELIGION IN LEBANON

Saint George Maronite Cathedral and the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, Beirut.

  Divisions within the Christian and Muslims faiths were considerable, but most
observers accepted the Christian- Muslim dichotomy as the most salient in
Lebanese society.

 According to latest global estimations, 61% of Lebanon's population identify as

Muslim while 33.7% identify as Christian. The Muslim population is somewhat
evenly split between followers of Sunni (30.6%) and Shi'a (30.5%)
denominations, with smaller numbers of those belonging to Alawite and Ismaili
sects.

KHALIL GIBRAN

 Born in 1883 in northern Ottoman Lebanon, Gibran received no schooling, but

enjoyed informal religious and language lessons from a priest. His father's
gambling brought the family to financial ruin, which prompted his mother to
emigrate with her children (without Gibran snr.) to the United States. A
registration error upon arrival in Boston created the name 'Kahlil' instead of
the correct Khalil.

At school, Kahlil showed talent in drawing and found a mentor in the artist and
photographer Fred Holland Day, but returned to Lebanon to complete his
secondary schooling. At 19 he returned to Boston, but his mother, brother and
one of his sisters were tragically lost to tuberculosis. He found another mentor
 in Mary Haskell, a headmistress with an interest in orphans who supported
Gibran's painting career, and he began to have his prose poetry, short stories
and essays published in Arabic. 

In 1908 Gibran began a two year stay in Paris, studying art, and in 1912
moved permanently to New York where was able to exhibit his paintings and
have more work published, including Al-Ajniha Al-Mutakassirah (The Broken
Wings) and The Madman. In 1920 he established a society of Arab writers,
and continued his writings in Arabic in support of Lebanon and Syria's
emancipation from Ottoman rule.

The release of The Prophet in 1923 received largely unfavorable reviews, but
word of mouth made it a bestseller. After his death in 1931, associates
completed and published the two sequels he had begun: The Garden of the
Prophet and Death of the Prophet.

WORKS OF KHALIL GIBRAN

 He is best known as the author of The Prophet, which was first published in

the United States in 1923 and has since become one of the best-selling
books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages

 Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece The Prophet

The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the
Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran. It was originally published
in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is Gibran's best known work.

 Gibran’s writing mostly dealth with the Christianity, particularly on the topic of
spiritual love. His poetry is quite known for using formal language, along with
giving brief hint of topics of life. Gibran’s most famous book, “ The Prophet’
was first published in 1923. “ The Prophet” included twenty six poetic essays
and became extremely popular during the 1960s, with American
counterculture and New Age Movements. This book is still on its printing even
after so many years. Since its first publication in 1923 it has been translated
into more than forty languages. “ The Prophet’ being one of the beat selling
books of the twentieth century in the United States placed Gibran among the
best selling poets of all time.
 The Prophet, Almustafa has lived in the of Oprphalene for ,12 years
The Prophet
By Kahlil Gibran
“On Work”

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession,
that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to
music.

Which of you would be reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream,
assigned to you when that dream was born,

And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,

And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon
your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which
is written.

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said
by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save where there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and
to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to
wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved
were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, “He who works in marble, and finds the
shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he
who makes the sandals for our feet.”

But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not
more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own
loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your
work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s
hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the
voices of the day and the voices of the night.

ABOUT WORK OF KHALIL GIBRAN

These are the lesson that you’ll learn from the works of Khalil Gibran.

1. Work is our connection with humanity and life – it joins us with other people and aids
us to collaborate and contribute our efforts, in meaningful ways, to impact our
surroundings and the world at large.
2. It’s easy to get caught-up in the idea that hard work and labor are a burden to our
lives, rather than viewing opportunities to work as a gifted playing field for us to
develop our highest potentials, and experience new perspectives with people we may
not otherwise ever know.
3. Work is also commonly viewed as purely a means to an end, or a place to merely
pick-up a paycheck in order to put food on the table. While this is a clear and
necessary benefit of much work, our life’s work is meant to allow us to express and
manifest our purposes here on Earth. And, once we do that, the rewards are bound
to match our efforts.
4. Hard work is one of the best remedies for overcoming thoughts of personal
deficiencies and fear. Why? Again, because it connects us with others in meaningful
ways, and gets us out of our own heads through participation with the living, while
experiencing the benefits of tangible results.
 5. To really love yourself, you need to know yourself. You can only know yourself if you
are in touch with your own personal value and purpose. Work provides us with a
perfect platform for us to contribute our value and notice our own contributions and
self worth. And, the development of purpose is paced by the level of effort we are
willing to put forth on its behalf.
6. Life can get really boring when you don’t have enthusiasm or passion for your work.
Whether we are stay-at-home moms & dads, career professionals, artists or outdoor
laborers, we simply spend too much time contributing our work to the planet, not to
find some level of love from our efforts.
7. Acquiring knowledge requires both urge and a level of effort, or yes, work. In other
words, applying ourselves as curious students to learn whatever we don’t already
know is a necessary function of getting what we want. Also, sitting on high pedestals
and “willing things to the universe” without any backup of effort, rarely results in
much.
8. Finding love in our work may require us to show-up differently and search for new
ways to grow, develop and expand ourselves with whatever we do each day. Quite
often, it’s not the job that is no longer serving you, but you who has chosen not to
serve the job with your whole heart and passion. What would happen if you did?
9. If you are truly indifferent towards your work, then it’s worth finding new work that is
more aligned with the hidden urges and desires that inevitably reside inside of you.
10. Love blossoms from hard work and effort, regardless of the title and pay scale. And,
ironically, opportunities for more interesting responsibilities, higher titles and pay, all
grow from the rich soils of loving what you do, no matter what you do. Simply put,
people notice when you pour your passions into your work and they are more prone
to acknowledge work produced from a place of passion, versus indifference.
11. You either find ways to love what you do, or the outcome of all your efforts will get
you stuck in an endless cycle of futile indifference, which only leads to long-term
stress, resentment and unhappiness.
12. When you take note of your own indifference or resentment towards your work,
assign yourself the first new job of scheduling time with people who exemplify
passion for their work and open your eyes to a new perspective, which in Gibran’s
words, helps you realize that “work is love made visible.”

LEBANESE LITERATURE “THE PROPHET” by Khalil Gibran (Q&A) GUIDE

QUESTIONS:

1. In what ways has “The Prophet” been influenced by canonical works of Western
literature? In what ways is it original? Look at the style and the content.

Answer: ➢ “The Prophet” is a book of poetry authored by Khalil Gibran, and it contains
words of wisdom on different subject or area of our lives. It is a short poetry for love,
friendship, prayer, and other themes about life. Lines from the books has been use in
Western literature, like reading it for weddings and funerals. It also use to uplift someone
for their major accomplishments in life that is why it has become popular to everyone. ➢
Despite of the book’s popularity, Gibran receive many critics from the West for its
simplicity.

2. Is Lebanese or Arab patriotism discernible? What is his view of America? What is the
political dimension of his work?
 Answer:

➢ Lebanese or Arab patriotism is not discernible in the book, in fact, anyone can
read it without. I think their religion or race. “The Prophet” is not only for few people, but
for everyone who wants to read and be inspired of it.

➢ For him, America is great for being a young country. In other words, his view of
America is that it will be more powerful as it matures and grows as a country in the
future.

➢ In Lebanon, he is regarded as literary hero, because his style is different from other
writers. His major influenced in English Literature cannot be forgotten.

3. Can you identify with any of the characters? Does Gibran want you to identify with
them? Do you think somebody in Lebanon would feel closer or less close to the
characters? Why?

Answer:

➢ I think most of the people who asked him wants to hear his perspective in life about
certain situations or subjects. However, there is no guarantee that all people during that
time will accept his opinion or answers to their questions. But they still respected him for
being wise about life.

4. Is his style of writing impossibly artificial today? Is his writing too saccharine, too self-
consciously florid? Are his sentiments and ideals terribly outdated? Is he merely a
product? of his time or does he speak universal truths?

Answer:

➢ I think his style of writing is still applicable in today’s generation, because his writings
are all about normal things that happens in life. I think his writings is neutral, it can be
applied with wisdom, or self-interpretation.