Home > The Book Page > Archives > 2008 > January > 10
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A little “Prophet” sharing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everyman’s Library has brought out a new edition of “Khalil Gibran: The Collected Works,” which should prompt most people to ask: “Works? You mean Gibran wrote more than one?”
Yes, Gibran wrote a fair bit, but he is known as a one-book author for his unbelievably — and to some, inexplicably — popular book, “The Prophet.” Both the author and the book get a thorough and fascinating examination by Joan Acocella in the Jan. 7 New Yorker magazine.
“The Prophet” was published in 1923, and has sold like snow cones in Hell ever since. It’s particularly popular in prisons, Acocella writes, and I’ll bet a hefty percentage of high school and middle school students have warmed their sensitive souls in its sun-lamp wisdom over the past 80 years. I remember reading it around the age of 15, but my good friend Trance referred to Gibran as “Kellogg All-Bran” and mocked me for reading him.
Some wisdom from “The Prophet:”
“Prayer is but the expansion of yourself into the living ether.”
“Evil is good tortured by its own hunger and thirst.”
“Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love.”
“The Prophet” sounds at times like a religious book, with its echoes of Buddhism and Christianity, but isn’t really Christian or Buddhist. It also sounds a little like a self-help book, just a lot more vague than Dr. Phil. Acocella calls it “a warm, smooth, interconfessional soup that was perfect for 20th century readers, many of whom longed for the comforts of religion but did not wish to pledge allegiance to any church.” She calls Gibran a mid-wife to the New Age movement.
I re-read some chunks of “The Prophet” and, cynical old soul that I have become, found it just wretched. But there must be fans out there who will take issue with my heresy. Is anyone up for defending “The Prophet?” Has anyone profited from its wisdom?
