Country: Lebanon
Life of Gibran Khalil Gibran in An article by Dr. Suheil Bushrui.
Kahlil Gibran of Americaby Dr. Suheil Bushrui [if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pspanstylefont-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Times New RomanSource: TheArab American Dialogue, Vol. 7, No. 3 (January/February 1996).spanstylemso-spacerun: yes o:p/o:p[if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pOn December 3, 1995, Al-Hewar Center in Vienna, Virginia,presented an evening to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Gibran KahlilGibran?s arrival in America. Afteran introduction by Mariam Qasem El-Saad, Dr. Suheil Bushrui presented anintriguing glimpse into the life of this poet who continues to be loved aroundthe world. The following is Dr.Bushrui?s presentation: [if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pNotwithstandingthe all-important influence of his Arab background and heritage, Kahlil Gibran,the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher, undoubtedly owed much of his success tothe country which received him as a young immigrant at the turn of thecentury. A world of possibilitieswas opened up to him by the dynamism and materialism of the American way oflife, giving rise to the unique East-West synthesis which Gibran?s workrepresents.o:p/o:p[if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pImpressed by the great technologicalachievements of America, and mindful of the material well-being of the majorityof its citizens, Gibran viewed his adopted home from the vantage-point of hisown cultural heritage and recognized that the picture was incomplete.spanstylemso-spacerun: yes Consequently he sought to infuse someEastern mysticism into Western materialism, believing that humanity was best servedby a man capable of bestriding the two cultures and acknowledging the virtuesof each.spanclassMsoFootnoteReference[if supportFootnotes][1][endif]o:p/o:p[if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pHisEnglish writings represent the best of both worlds, a richly harmonious blendof East and West. This isespecially true of The Prophet,America?s best-selling book of the century after the Bible.spanstylemso-spacerun: yes o:p/o:p[if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pGibran,however, was not only a man from the East who brought a much-needed element ofspirituality to the West, he equally became a man of the West, benefiting froman environment in which freedom, democracy and equality of opportunity openeddoors before him as would have been possible nowhere else in the world.spanstylemso-spacerun: yes His achievement thus symbolizes theachievement of America herself, a nation of immigrants which through itsingenuity and largesse has created a truly international society thriving onunity in diversity.o:p/o:p[if supportEmptyParas][endif]o:p/o:pAmericais in some ways entitled to claim Kahlil Gibran for one of her own sons as muchas his native Lebanon. For hespent only the first twelve years of his life in Bisharri, the village where hewas born in 1883, before emigrating with his family to the United States.spanstylemso-spacerun: yes Apart from two brief return visits toLebanon and a two-year studentship in Paris, he lived out
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