THE MAD MAN

Born in the town of Bsharri in the north of modern-day Lebanon. As a young man, Gibran immigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature.

 

Key Dates:

1883: Gibran Khalil Gibran was born in Bsharri, a village in the north of Lebanon in 1883. He originated from a humble family. His father, Khalil, worked as a tax collector. His mother Kamileh Rahmeh had one son from a previous marriage (Boutros; Arabic for Peter). After Gibran, Kamileh gave birth to two daughters: Mariana and Sultana. 

 

1895: Gibran's mother immigrated to Boston with her four children, hoping to flee misery, while her husband stayed in Lebanon drowning in financial problems. In the United States, Gibran met the famous photographer Fred Holland Day. 

1898: Gibran returned to Lebanon to study Arabic and French at CollegeLa Sagesse in Beirut. 

1902: In fifteen months' time, Gibran lost his mother, sister and half-brother. 

1904: Gibran met Mary Haskell, an American citizen and a great influence in his life who will encourage and help him throughout his path. The same year, Gibran published several poems in prose gathered later under the title A Tear and a Smile. 

1908: He settled down in Paris to pursue an artistic training. 

1911: From thereafter, Gibran settled in New York where he started a rich and intimate correspondence with May Ziadeh, a Lebanese intellectual living in Cairo. 

1918: The Madman, Gibran's first book written in English was published. 

1920: Gibran founded, with other Arab and Lebanese co-writers and poets living in the United States, a literary society called Al Rabitat al Qualamiya (The Pen-bond Society). 

1923: The Prophet, Gibran's seminal work, was published. The book was an immediate success. Concurrently, Gibran started a solid friendship with Barbara Young who later became his confident. 

1928: Jesus, the Son of Man was published after 18months of uninterrupted work. 

1931: Gibran died in a hospital in New York at the age of 48. His body was transferred to Lebanon. Today, it still lies in his native town of Bsharri, in the monastery of Mar Sarkis (Saint Serge) turned into a museum. 

 

 

To read more about  Khalil Gibran please visit http://www.gibrankhalilgibran.org/AboutGebran/Biography/