The Uses of Kahlil Gibran

August 5, 2007

It was a gray and rainy Sunday in Detroit. Lots of sites were closed and I had no interviews lined up, but I spent a couple of hours in the Arab American National Museum. I will have more to say about the museum at a later time, but for now I just want to note my biggest surprise: the significant presence of Kahlil Gibran (author of The Prophet).

This was a surprise since I have never taken Gibran seriously. He was a Lebanese American (migrating to the US in 1895 when he was 12), but the spiritual cast of his work has led me to think of him in a more abstracted light. I have a feeling that most readers of The Prophet would be hard pressed to say anything concrete about his background.. that is, beyond a vague sense that he comes from some spiritual East. That primary audience for Gibran (which I have witnessed first hand by working at a bookstore) eclipses the fact that he has a real constituency among Arab Americans.

Gibran came up at a number of points in the museum. The model for a sculpture dedicated to Gibran in Washington DC was on display. He had a special display case pointing up his influence on John F. Kennedy's famous line "ask not what your country can do for you.." He had a short biography on the wall of great Arab Americans. In the gift shop there were copies of The Prophet and a biography. Walk over to the small library and once again there were his works. This strong presence in the museum means that I need to think more carefully about Gibran and his place in constructing an Arab American identity.

This short biography points out that Gibran published his first article in the Arab American newspaper Al-Mujawir. That seems good evidence that Gibran is not some after-the-fact adoption on the part of Arab Americans, but genuinely contributed to this identity goup from his earliest work. Perhaps if I can dissociate Gibran from New Agey visions and connect him with a concrete community I will find him more interesting.

What would come of pushing Gibran to the forefront of an Arab American literature? The clearest benefit I can think of is the tendency of his work to mute religious distinctions. As a "spiritual" writer he is neither Christian nor Muslim, and therefore offers a non-sectarian version of Arab American identity. This would fit in well with the exhibits I saw in the museum itself. The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths were presented as coming from the Middle East.. and the museum had no interest in adjudicating doctrinal issues. The broader point seemed to be that the Middle East has a rich spiritual tradition. On this point Gibran is an obvious contributor.