The Madman: “Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. ”

By Kahlil Gibran

Khalil Gibran was one of a number of Arab intellectuals and writers who lived in the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century and who had a great influence on the development of modern Arabic literature through the exploration of Western literary movements. The group was presided by Khalil himself and was baptized Arrabitah, or “The League.” Generally, the Arabic literature of the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by the revolutionary ideas advanced by Arrabitah members as well as by other Arab intellectuals and literary men who felt the urgent need to revolutionize classic Arabic verse and prose. It was a growing urge to innovate and to break with old literary traditions and conventions. The current eventually helped to open new horizons such as the flourishing, in the second half of the twentieth century, of Arabic prose poetry and free verse. The Arrabitah experience was, actually, fundamental in the life of Khalil Gibran who was regarded as a literary rebel and a leading figure of the Arabic literary Renaissance in addition to his Oriental contributions to Western poetry and thought. Here we publish ‘The Madman’.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Word To The Wise
• Release date: Nov 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781783945689

Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and a philosopher best known for his, The Prophet. Born to a Maronite-Christian family in a village occupied by Ottoman rule, Gibran and his family immigrated to the United States in 1895 in search of a better life. Studying art and literature, and inevitably ensconced in the world of political activism as a young man dealing with the ramifications of having to leave his home-land, Gibran hoped to make his living as an artist. With the weight of political and religious upheaval on his shoulders, Gibran's work aimed to inspire a revolution of free though and artistic expression. Gibran's, The Prophet has become one of the best-selling books of all time, leaving behind a legacy of accolades and establishing him as both a literary rebel and hero in his country of Lebanon. Gibran is considered to be the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.

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Kahlil Gibran - The Madman: His Parables and Poems

Kahlil Gibran was one of a number of Arab intellectuals and writers who lived in the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century and who had a great influence on the development of modern Arabic literature through the exploration of Western literary movements. The group was presided by Khalil himself and was baptized Arrabitah, or The League. Generally, the Arabic literature of the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by the revolutionary ideas advanced by Arrabitah members as well as by other Arab intellectuals and literary men who felt the urgent need to revolutionize classic Arabic verse and prose. It was a growing urge to innovate and to break with old literary traditions and conventions.  The current eventually helped to open new horizons such as the flourishing, in the second half of the twentieth century, of Arabic prose poetry and free verse. The Arrabitah experience was, actually, fundamental in the life of Khalil Gibran who was regarded as a literary rebel and a leading figure of the Arabic literary Renaissance in addition to his Oriental contributions to Western poetry and thought.  Here we publish ‘The Madman’.

CONTENTS 

HOW I BECAME A MADMAN

GOD

MY FRIEND

THE SCARECROW

THE SLEEP-WALKERS

THE WISE DOG

THE TWO HERMITS

ON GIVING AND TAKING

THE SEVEN SELVES

WAR

THE FOX

THE WISE KING

AMBITION

THE NEW PLEASURE

THE OTHER LANGUAGE

THE POMEGRANATE

THE TWO CAGES

THE THREE ANTS

THE GRAVE-DIGGER

ON THE STEPS OF THE TEMPLE

THE BLESSED CITY

THE GOOD GOD AND THE EVIL GOD

DEFEAT

NIGHT AND THE MADMAN

FACES

THE GREATER SEA

CRUCIFIED

THE ASTRONOMER

THE GREAT LONGING

SAID A BLADE OF GRASS

THE EYE

THE TWO LEARNED MEN

WHEN MY SORROW WAS BORN

AND WHEN MY JOY WAS BORN

THE PERFECT WORLD 

KAHLIL GIBRAN – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

HOW I BECAME A MADMAN 

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen,-the seven masks I have fashioned an worn in seven lives, -I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves. 

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me. 

And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, He is a madman. I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are