Gibran
Kahlil Gibran (Khalil Gibran)
Introduction
We would like to introduce this literary work by synopsizing the political, religious, and social situations prevalent at the time Kahlil Gibran's parents were living in Bsharri, a remote village in North Lebanon.
In the 1850s, the political situation in Lebanon was subject to successive changes in leadership, and to the Ottoman domination that had been gripping Lebanon since the year 1516.
By 1860, Lebanon was wreathing in a quagmire of turmoil, which bred insurrections and «the period of anarchy reached its climax.»
Meanwhile, the northern district of Lebanon enjoyed a more tranquil political situation than other areas did, since the Ottoman influence existed through representation. Consequently, the inhabitants there responded differently to the aforementioned influences.
Disregarding the nature of influence in rural areas, social affairs in remote rural areas had to be monitored by the church in general and the clergymen in particular. The church had the final say even in private matters, simply because «a clergyman was one of the most influential figures in the society then. »
On the religious level, some spiritual leaders were lured by the idea of domination, which ensued the division of the clergymen into two categories. The first remained ascetic, whereas the second shifted their attention and meddled in political affairs besides social ones. Consequently, any minor or major changes on any level had to sift through the priest, being the decision maker, and the parish had to obey him blindly, even he seemed biased in favor of personnel interest; nobody dared oppose the sanctified figure.
On the social level, the Lebanese society was based mostly on hierarchy. The commoners had to strive arduously in the service of the proprietor or Bey who, despite the lavish, «posh» life he used to enjoy, expected the farmers to allot the best of their crops to the pleasure of his taste.
Thus, the rich and the strong thrived prosperously, whereas the weak writhed from poverty and the oppression of the tyrant rulers.
In this politically, religiously, and socially unstable atmosphere lived Kahlil Gibran, senior, and his wife, Kamila Rahmeh, in north Lebanon, in a small town called Bsharri.
>>To Order the Book<<
Chapter one - A Biography of Kahlil Gibran
Gibran Kahlil Gibran (Gubran Khalil Gubran) was born on January 6, 1883 in Bsharri which means the house of Astarte –a village that lies, as the crow flies, forty miles to the north of Beirut, at the foot of the lofty Cedars of Lebanon. Kahlil means, «A chosen, beloved friend. » Gibran means « the healer or comforter of souls. » Robin Waterfield says Gibran «was named after a Syrian monk of the late fourth and early fifth century. »
Gibran was only a few months old when his mother, Kamila, which means «perfect», detected certain uniqueness in her newborn. He withstood the harsh, unbecoming conditions the family was living in, and showed that he possessed a strong personality. However, his father had a different attitude towards him since the day he was born, and it seemed that Gibran was destined to drown in malaise and mortification from that day on.
On the day he was born, there was a violent snowstorm in Bsharri. Gibran’s father returned home as drunk as oftentimes. On entering the house, relatives broke the news to him that he had had a baby boy. His response was quite unexpected. He retorted, «I don't want him, throw him out to the snows. »
At the age of three, and during a gusty storm over Bsharri, Gibran rushed out of the house followed by his petrified mother. He resisted being brought back into the house, and reiterated, '' I love storms, I love them ''.
Barbara Young, Gibran's amanuensis and amicable friend for seven years, said, ''There was something in the man from early childhood, a passion for storm … something in him, he said, that was released, unleashed and set gloriously free by a storm''. His mother said, «He was unpredictable and difficult, tender over a broken flower at one moment, and the next raging like a young lion because of some imposing authority upon him, » whereas he said of himself, «I was really not a nice boy, but it was because I was restless. I felt strange and lost. I could not find my way. »
Etc... etc...
etc...
Since his boyhood, Gibran manifested precocity of character, and
any casual observer of his daily activities could detect this phenomenon.
When he and his friends used to go the fields next to Bsharri, his
friends would play in the green meadows, while he preferred to lie
down and stare for hours at a scene unseen by his friends.
In one of his lectures on Gibran, Dr.Antoine Ghattas Karam says,
«Gibran was curious was curious to explore the unknown and
unusual. He could have been influenced by some of the books he had
read, like the age of fables and beauties of Mythology, which tackle
subjects about heroes, gods, and myths. I believe there are two
important notes regarding Gibran's choice of such books. The first
is his interest, since his boyhood, in choosing serious subjects
related to classical education. The influence of these readings
accompanied him as he gradually became a writer and a painter. The
second is what he wrote in purple ink on the first page of one of
his books, « I have studied this book between New York and
America and all what I studied was done with great yearning. »
Besides the abovementioned books, Gibran read the Gospel secretly,
especially without his father's knowledge, because it was forbidden
that the simple laity unveil the teachings of Jesus since they were
deemed too holy for the laymen, and anyone who broke this order,
would be associated with anathema, and eventually be excommunicated.
In her book, this man from Lebanon, Barbara young says, «Gibran
was one of the rare gestures of the Mighty Unnamable Power. The
reason and laws that govern ordinary men do not govern genius Gibran.
Even his mother said, “My son is outside of psychology.”
Etc... etc... etc...
Gibran's congenial endowments enhanced the development of an intense
urge to write and draw. He collected piles of paper slips on which
he used to write works and expressions he had recently learnt. He
also copied some of the paintings he had seen painted by the Italian
priests who visited his grandfather. «His writing tendency
developed into a quasi-addiction, to an extent that he would sometimes
scribble a certain inspired idea on the cuff of his shirt sleeve
if he did not have a handy piece of paper to write on. » His
mother Kamila never scolded him for soiling his clothes. With her
wit and enlightened mind, she perceived that such an act was a healthy
phenomenon of an embodied genius.
Gibran was rebellious against the school rules and regulations set
by the administrators, but he was tolerated because of his high
achievement and craving to learn.
His precocious talent in drawing started at school where he often
expressed his opinion of others by drawing them in caricature. Once
he drew a caricature of Father Germanos, and when his father saw
it, he slapped him and warned him against acting irresponsibly and
foolishly.
Since he was a young boy, Gibran had been fond discovering what
lay behind the regular standard of facts and matters. He once told
Haskell about a bad experience he had suffered. He said, «My
heart and neck are strong, and my hands; my shoulders are not because
of the accident I had. When I was ten or eleven years old, I was
in a monastery one day with another boy – a cousin, a little
older. We were walking along a high place that fell off more than
a thousand feet. The path had a handrail, but it had weakened and
path and rail and fell with us, and we rolled probably one hundred
fifty yards in the landslide. My cousin fractured his leg, and I
got several wounds and cuts in the head down to the skull, and injured
my shoulders. The shoulders healed crooked - too high, and too far
forward. So they pulled them apart again and strapped me to a cross
with thirsty yards of strap, and I stayed strapped to that cross
for forty days. »
«Gibran's mother, Kamila Rahmeh, was born in Bsharri in 1864,
and died in Boston in June, 1903. » she was the youngest of
Estephan Rahmeh's children. She was clever, prudent, and attractive,
but poorly educated because women's education in those days was
considered futile especially in remote rural regions.
Kamila got married to her cousin, Hanna Abdel Salam Rahmeh. Shortly
after their marriage, they traveled to Brazil where their first
son, Boutros, was born.
In 1879, Kamila's husband died, so she decided to return to Lebanon
where she might find consolation for her embittered soul, and a
secure, familial environment for her son.
Gibran's father, Khalil Gibran, a descendent of naïve commoners,
was born in Bsharri in 1844, and died in 1844, and died in 1909.
When he died, Gibran wrote Haskell a letter saying, « I have
lost my father, beloved Mary. He died in the old house where he
was born sixty-five years ago. »
Being semi-literate, Gibran's father was appointed tax collector
in Bsharri and the neighboring villages. He was doughty, tough,
and rubicund of visage owing to spending the greater part of the
day roaming the roads and fields in the sun to levy taxes.
Kamila was once singing at one of village festivals when Khalil
heard her captivating voice. He fell in love with her. She was then
a window with a baby boy, Boutros, from her previous marriage.
«They got married and begot Gibran, Mariana, and Sultana.
Gibran's father used to prefer Kamila's first-marriage son, Boutros,
to his son Gibran, who was six years younger». Khalil helped
Boutros plough the field, but accused Gibran of wasting his time
drawing and dreaming. Gibran once told Haskell, « My father
loved Boutros much more than he did me. He also loved my mother
greatly, and she loved him too, despite the silent periods that
intermitted their lives because of my father's harsh, overbearing
presence. »
As the years passed by, Gibran's father became alcoholic, with little
income to suffice his family needs besides his addiction. He whiled
away most of his days in drinking wine and staggering along the
alleys to levy taxes imposed on Bsharri and the neighboring villages,
then siphon off part of the revenue to the bottom of the bottle.
He was harsh and ill tempered, which imposed an atmosphere of quelled
denouncement and fear among his four children and his tolerant wife.
Later on, Gibran's father was accused of embezzlement and sentenced
to three years in prison. His «brutal arrest by the Ottoman»
etched an indelible scar in Gibran's life, and played a major role
in molding his character, as we will read later on. That incident
prompted Gibran to compose an impromptu poem depicting the cruel
arrest.
Gibran's subsequent attachment to the village priest was a psychological
counter-reaction, or escapism from his failing, stern father. The
priest, on the other hand, possessed so distinguished a personality
that young Gibran asked him, «Are you God? ».
Cocooned within this dismal atmosphere of deprivation and dearth,
Gibran grew up with more feelings to smother than to divulge. He
embraced his sorrow to himself only to pour it into eloquent expressions
in his writings, and artistic strokes in his paintings. His mother
was his sole consolation and haven. Her soothing voice used to lull
her young Gibran to sleep every night. Her ethereal tone and poetic
words inspired him to say of her, «She lived countless poems,
but she never wrote one. Her shrewd understanding lent to comprehending
the uniqueness that molded his character.
The spreading rumor about Kamila's affair with Youssef Geagea, one
of the village people, angered her and added salt to her wounded
heart. That was the last straw for her. The accusation that was
mouthed from door to door in the village, and the consequences of
the shameful act brought about by her husband's arrest, rendered
her unable to bear the brunt of her humiliation. She opened her
heart to Gibran and said, «If I had joined the convent and
become a nun, it would have been better for me and for the people».
Kamila made up her mind to immigrate to the USA. Another incentive
for her emigration was her keen ambition to find a secure milieu
for her children, especially Gibran in whom she had pinned high
hopes for a promising future.
Dr. Bikai says, «The family emigrated to the United Stated
to escape the tyrannical Ottoman domination, which augmented the
misery that had accumulated upon Gibran's family. » Above
all that Kamila's scandalous affair was not only shameful in a very
reserved, «pious» setting, but it was also disgraceful
because she was the daughter of the village priest, Father Estephan
Rahmeh.
«On June 25, 1894, Kamila and her four children set off to
Boston. When they arrived, they rented a small house in Edinburgh
Street, China Town, a quarter for the commoners. Kamila accepted
to live in that poverty-stricken only because a good number of Lebanese
immigrants from Bsharri had already settled there. She thought she
would find in them some consolation for her lonely soul and company
for her children. Gibran's emigration was both a journey out of
his country and into his self at the same time. He once said «
I am a tourist and a seaman at the same time; every morning I discover
a new continent within myself. »
On September 30, 1895, Gibran enrolled at Quincy Public School where
he was placed in the «special English» class to learn
the language. He finished his elementary education in two years.
« After school Gibran used to go to Dennison House, an area
where people read poems and performed short plays. Later, he started
reading simple English stories. His teacher was happy with his progress
in English; hence, she gave him stories to read, like Uncle Tom's
Cabin ». The setting in this story was similar to the humble
home Gibran used to live in. Gibran was touched. «He left
Quincy on September 22, 1898. » He had enrolled at an art
institute, where he soon stood out among his classmates. Shortly
after his enrolment, Miss Florence Pierce, his art teacher, realized
his distinguished genius in drawing and encouraged him to enrich
his talent.
« Among the members of the said art institute was Jessie Beale,
who was greatly impressed by Gibran's remarkable talent. She shortened
(and altered) his name to Khalil (Kahlil) Gibran.» She also
wrote to her wealthy friend, Fred Holland Day, and pled with him
to take close care of Gibran. Day was a rich man with an eccentric
character, and a keen interest in artists. He was also a professional
photographer who delighted in taking unconventional photographs.
« His first meeting with Gibran kindled his interest in caring
for him. This interest grew even more when he saw the eastern features
on Gibran's face. He was also very influenced by legends and spiritual
practices of the East. »
Day hired Gibran to pose for him in order to photograph him. He
asked him to wear his hair long over his shoulders, and dress in
eastern attire.
Day's mother liked Gibran too, but she was not keen on sitting with
him because, «He hardly smiled. »
Etc... etc... etc...
Day offered Gibran financial
and educational assistance. He also lent him books to read, such
as Treasure of the Meek, by Metarlink, and the classical Dictionary.
These books, too, nourished his intellect, and channeled his artistic
talents and values. Day then introduced Gibran to notables in the
literati, and to artists in various fields. «He (Day) acted
as Gibran's mentor and collected for him the royalties from his
drawings which were printed on book covers. »
The series of introductions and meetings with artists paved the
way for Gibran to be eligible for admission to several restricted,
aristocratic societies. This chance enhanced his self-confidence
and urged him to sharpen his skill in painting. It also widened
his horizon, and augmented his charisma among certain noble women
he had been introduced to. Day was still collecting photographs
of Gibran in different eastern attire and in various postures. He
once said, «I could picture him in his beautiful fresh clothes,
always carrying a book. He gleamed with intelligence and was overwhelmed
with sedateness. Gibran was extremely contemplative, and full of
love. » Among all his friends, Gibran was known for his elegance.
Etc... etc... etc...
«On August 3, 1898, Gibran embarked a ship to sail back to
Lebanon. » Soon after his arrival, he intended to enroll at
Al- Hikmeh (Wisdom) School; one of the most eminent educational
institutes then.
On registration day at Al- Hikmeh School, Gibran made a remarkable
distinction that provoked one of the Arabic teachers, Father Yousef
Haddad, who complained about the arrogance of the new pupil who
had refused to start from the elementary level. The school director
advised Gibran to climb the ladder one rung at a time, but Gibran
answered, «A bird does not need a ladder to fly. » When
the director inquired about the parent in whose company Gibran had
come, and how he had heard of him, he said, «My eye saw you;
my heart showed me, and only I am responsible for myself. He then
produced the money and paid the whole fee. »
Gibran found it too degrading to sit in the same classroom next
to mediocre youth after he had become famous among many members
in the artistic society in America.
After registration, he refused to be considered as a regular student
who should attend classes in all subjects; instead, he selected
the ones that conformed with his personnel standard of academic
discipline, and ignored those which would blunt his natural talent.
He disliked Arabic grammar because he found that it was dry, mechanical
learning.
These were two reasons behind the above subject selection:
The first reason was his proud awareness of his own personal genius
that prompted him to deem himself too advanced to follow the formal
syllabi set by the administration. The second springs from a psychological
repulsive reaction against imposed rules and regulations. This repelling
attitude could be traced back and attributed to the oppression practiced
against him at home by his father, and to the unpleasant memories
of the inhumane practices adopted in his home village school, where
corporal punishment was the reward for ignorance or laziness. His
mother had frequently realized his repelling reaction; she said
that he was at times “…raging like a young lion because
of some imposing of authority upon him. »
After a short while in AL-Hikmeh school, Father Yousef Haddad, the
Arabic teacher, assigned Gibran a list of Arabic books to read like
The Bible, and Nahj-Al-Balagha (Method of Rhetoric). Father Haddad
finally realized the rapid progress Gibran had made and said that
he «sees his student (Gibran) as more than a student.”
He also told his relative, Maroun Abboud, a renown Lebanese poet,
that « Gibran was a unique student, not only in his scholastic
achievements but also in his behavior and attitude towards matters
that took place at school. »
Despite Gibran's recent involvement and interest in the Arabic language,
his goal was to be awarded first prize in a poem contest held at
the school. The challenge was competitive since all the other participants
were pupils whose basic education, unlike Gibran's, enjoyed an unintermittent
contact with their first language. Even though the advantage was
to their favor, Gibran refused to be beaten at a contest in a language
he had mastered through his artistic talent, although he had mastered
through his artistic talent, although he had learnt little about
it. The motive to succeed was geared by his tendency to challenge,
and his yearning to attain a distinguished literary achievement.
The contest ended with Gibran's name topping the list of winners.
Gibran also manifested remarkable progress in absorbing the French
language of which he had but little knowledge. He was interested
in reading about French art and artists, so he picked up a smattering
of art jargon. Nevertheless, the French he had to study at Al-Hikmeh
was of a different genre from the scanty French command he had attained
through his personal readings.
During one of the class sessions, Father Francis Mansour, the only
school administrator Gibran liked, saw in Gibran's hand a piece
of paper on which he had drawn a naked girl kneeling before a priest.
Father Mansour snatched the «promiscuous» drawing, pinched
Gibran's ear and called him «evil boy», and then gave
him a punishment. When Gibran handed in the punishment, Father Mansour
rebuked him and explained that such a misdemeanor deserved expulsion
from school. To this Gibran retorted, «Had you not been in
this school, I would have repeated such a misdemeanor daily until
I was expelled. »
This attitude justifies the conduct result Gibran received on graduation
day on July 13, 1901, when his name tailed the second list. In those
days, good conduct meant blind obedience, which Gibran revolted
against. It was surprising, though, to find Gibran's name among
those who received the consolation prize, which meant that his revolt
was not as impudent as some of his old classmates had claimed.
Besides his outstanding achievement and rapid progress, Gibran was
famous for an obstinacy that augmented when he was challenged. He
felt threatened when confronted and would fight back irately. This
reaction was the aftermath of the recurrent previous misfortunes
and unpleasant experiences that had influenced him remarkably.
«Once the school principal requested that Gibran have his
long hair cut, but Gibran refused and expressed readiness to leave
school if he were not left alone. The principal, along with the
staff, condoned the discrepancy on the account that Gibran was so
precocious a student that he should not be angered or expelled.
»
Gibran always spent his summer holidays in Bsharri. He and his father
seemed to have always been at loggerheads with each other, especially
after the humiliating encounters Gibran had experienced with him.
He avoided living with his father in the same residence because
«once bitten», Gibran was «twice shy. »
He spent most of his vacation at his aunt's house.
Gibran started to draw regularly. One drawing led to another until
he had sketched and collected a number of paintings. He sent them
to Day in Boston. Day wrote back and expressed his administration
of the paintings and sent him one hundred dollars as a token of
his gratitude. «The next day Gibran went down to Tripoli,
a city 45 kilometers from Bsharri, and bought a brown suit with
pearly buttons, and a glossy pair of shoes. »
One of the remarkably striking events whose consequences bore a
chronic effect which was carved in Gibran mind, and which chiseled
his character, took place at one of the banquets held in Bsharri.
Among the guests was Gibran’s teacher, Salim Al-Daher –
then one of the wealthy notables in Bsharri. Gibran was very eager
to see him and to appear at his best before the teacher whose opinion
mattered so immensely to him.
During the celebration, an old woman reiterated her request to Gibran
to read a poem he had written that winter, and which she liked.
At that moment his father looked at him with an expression of disapproval
he had worn on his face, but despite that, Gibran insisted on proving
his linguistic eloquence and refusing his father's vain claim that
his son «hallucinated» when he wrote and read his poems.
Gibran fumbled for a piece of paper folded in his pocket, took it
out rather clumsily and started to read. He had a legion of feelings
cramming in his head. He perceived that it was the best opportunity
to prove his worth, and disapprove his father's derisive view that
he was worthless. Gibran felt as though he were reading to two opposing
audiences: the guests, who were responding appreciatively by chiming
in hums of admiration, and his father who was kibitzing pejoratively,
mulling over the bleakest of diminutive comments, and lurking for
his to finish reading.
No sooner had Gibran finished reading his poem than the guests blasted
in fervent applause; whereas his father, with a grimace, spat his
mulled-over, acerb remark and said, «I hope we will no longer
listen to such hallucination.» instantaneously, Gibran put
away the piece of paper and the scanty remaining bit of consideration
he had reserved towards his father.
Gibran later told Haskell how his father reacted when he had read
his poem, « I looked at my father, and he made a face - of
contempt. »
After that bitter incident, Gibran felt that he lacked the existence
of a healthy, natural and intact paternal image, and that his triangulation
with his parents was disjointed by his father, the third element
of the triangle, who mismatched the two other sides: his mother
and himself. For this reason he sought a perfect substitute for
his father.
During summer vacation, Gibran frequently visited his teacher, Al-
Daher, whose daughter, Hala, Gibran started to admire. Al-Daher
was among the guests at the banquet, and Gibran thought he had impressed
him to the extent that he would be more welcome in his house than
he had been before, and that he could privatize an intimate meeting
with Hala. Unfortunately, his hopes were in vain although during
their stealthy meetings Hala enjoyed his company and his romantic
conversation that tickled her feminine instincts.
In 1899, during Gibran’s second summer in Bsharri, Hala's
brother, Iskandar, discovered her relationship with Gibran. Furious,
he forbade her from meeting with him as he did not want his sister
to talk to the «son of a tax collector. » Nevertheless,
Hala's sister, Saideh, arranged for them to meet in the forest,
near Mar Sarkis monastery on the periphery of Bsharri.
During his last meeting with Hala, Gibran disclosed his wish to
travel, and he gave her a bottle of perfume, a small bottle he had
filled with his tears, a lock of his hair, and his walking stick.
This meeting with her remained a symbol of two conflicts in Gibran’s
personality.
Etc... etc... etc...
After a few weeks of separation and deprivation, Gibran asked Hala
to elope with him. She euphemized her refusal saying, «If
you pick a raw fruit from a tree, you will hurt both the fruit and
the tree, but when the fruit ripens, it will fall alone.”
Etc... etc... etc...
«In 1901, Gibran graduated from Al-Hikmeh School. »
Soon after that, he had to leave for Boston after having learnt
that sickness was worming its way inside the members of his family.
On April 4, 1901, Sultana, Gibran's fourteen-year-old sister, died
of tuberculosis, and his mother and brother, Boutros, were seriously
ill with the same disease. Boutros died in March, 1903, and his
mother died a few months later. «On hearing the news about
his mother's death, Gibran could not consume the impact, so he collapsed
to the floor. » Sorrow marked its effect and left in him many
a defined line of affectionate influence that threaded inside his
mind and webbed his character, as the succeeding chapter conveys.
Gibran and his sister Mariana were left to console and support each
other through those disasters. He could hardly offer any financial
assistance as he had not sold any of his painting for some time.
His loving sister, Mariana, took over all the responsibilities of
the house.
She and Gibran had always enjoyed a close bond of love, so she strove
to provide for both of them by working as seamstress with as little
income as sixty dollars a month. Gibran was her only care and company.
She used to prepare the Lebanese dishes he liked, and invite some
Arab friends over to entertain him and alleviate his agony.
In Boston, Gibran succeeded in liberating his talent, volcanic surge
of artistic creativity. He developed his inclination towards independence,
and at last was able to release himself from the suffocating grip
his father had clenched him with. He succeeded in unshackling the
chains that bound him physically, mentally, and intellectually.
Gibran unveiled some unpleasant memories to Haskell and related
that once he had drawn a caricature of Rajj Bey Al-Daher, and when
his father saw the drawing , he rebuked him and considered his act
so brazen that he «rewarded» him with “A bunch
of sticks which broke across his back.» He also remembered
that his ignorant father used to call him «foolish»
because he «wasted» his time drawing and forbade him
from «scribbling» any more.
Being molded of adamant clay, Gibran refused to surrender to oppression
and hardships, «La Rochefoucaud - a French philosopher - said,
‘when the fire is weak, a soft blow of wind will put it out,
but when it is strong, the wind will kindle it to become even stronger».
This quotation resembles Gibran's situation. The pounding agony
brought about by his father's pummeling, and the recurrent misfortunes
that befell his family would have destroyed his self-confidence
had he not been so tenacious.
We will not elaborate on the influence aspect in Gibran's life as
there is a whole chapter dedicated to this matter. Mentioning the
above incidents was inevitable as they had an immediate effect on
Gibran's personality development during his childhood and early
life.
“In 1904, Gibran prepared twenty drawings to be exhibited.
Most of them were of Sufi nature tinged with a touch of melancholy.
Day helped him and offered him his workshop in Boston to exhibit
paintings in. few people came to visit the museum. Gibran started
to despair until a woman of serene composure entered the museum.
Her looks grew sharp as her attention was caught by the exquisite
paintings displayed. She began to inquire about the meaning of some
of these paintings. Gibran started to explain in his charming style
and well-chosen phrases, which left a considerable impression on
her mind and heart. That woman had been Mary Haskell, headmistress
and owner of Cambridge school for girls, at Marlboro Street.”
«After four days, Haskell invited Gibran to come her school
and exhibit paintings in the lecture hall, and he accepted. »
At Haskell's school, Gibran was attracted to a beautiful teacher
called Emily Michel (pet-named Micheline).
Through that exhibition, then, Haskel met Gibran, and they weaved
a bond of forbidding infatuation and spiritual love that was broken
only by death.
After having established a shy, unannounced attachment to Haskell,
Gibran frequented her school where Micheline used to teach. A romantic
spark seemed to have kindled a clandestine infatuation between Gibran
and Micheline. After a few secretive meetings between them, Micheline
encouraged Gibran to travel to France and promised to help him there.
Gibran was thrilled at the prospect of leaving for Paris. He thought
about the opportunistic consequences that may open far-fetched domains
for him. He wrote to his friend, Amine Ghrayeb, saying, «I
shall join the group of famous artists in that famed city. »
Gibran arrived in Paris on June 13, 1908. Micheline was there to
meet him. She helped him find a place to stay. A short while after
his arrival, he enrolled at Academie Julian to study painting. This
enrollment motivated him to visit the local museums and examine
the paintings in order to reproduce, in his own style, the paintings
that had forced a smile of admiration on his face.
After a few days in Paris, Gibran met with Youssef Hwayek, a Lebanese
friend, and told him about the purpose of his visit. Hwayek said,
« Gibran is haunted by a dream of art which he seeks to realize.
»
Etc... etc... etc...
In October 1910, after two years and a half in Paris, Gibran left
for Boston where Haskell and his sister Mariana were waiting for
him.
To Gibran, what was waiting for him was more important than who
was waiting for him. He perceived quite well that the two and a
half years he had spent in Paris were more beneficial prestigiously
than artistically. He foresaw the impact of the consequence long
before he trod Paris. In a letter to Amine Ghrayeb on Februrary
12, 1908, Gibran wrote, « The twelve months which I am going
to spend in Paris will play an important part in my everyday life,
for the time which I will spend in the City of light will be, with
the help of God, the beginning of a new chapter in the story of
my life.»
In the succeeding chapters, we will see how deeply influenced and
influential Gibran was in the advancement of his art which opened
for him not only doors, but also the continents of the whole world.
►► Some
of the artist's artwork
►► Arabic Articles about Gibran
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