The Prophet: A Graphic Novel de Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet: A Graphic Novel

Kahlil Gibran

Zeina Abirached

'It was while reading The Prophet with a pencil in hand and a drawing pad on my knees that I finally met him ...' Kahlil Gibran is the third bestselling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi. His masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics ever to be published. It sold over 9 million copies in the US alone and was translated into over 100 languages. Now his 1923 inspirational book is brought to life as a richly illustrated graphic novel. The night before embarking on a long journey which will take him back to his homeland, the young Almustafa, 'the chosen and loved,' responds to questions from residents of the city of Orphalese. Among them, he particularly addresses the Prophetess Almitra, who is keen to learn his teachings and wisdom on the big questions of human life: love, friendship, talent, self-awareness, time, good and evil, reason and passion, beauty and pleasure, suffering - everything including death. In this philosophical and spiritual narrative, reproduced here in its full text, Zeina Abirached creates a graphic novel full of light and shadows, exploring the most lyrical images to the most conceptual passages. A tour-de-force that Abirached brings to life with her characteristic style, this volume will attract and inspire readers of all ages as it pays a beautiful tribute to its author and celebrates 100 hundred years of The Prophet, whose beauty and power continues to inspire and surprise us.

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Notă biografică

Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer, born in 1883 in Lebanon and died in New York in 1931. As a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. 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, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero. In his early teens, the artistry of Gibran's drawings caught the eye of his teachers and he was introduced to the avant-garde Boston artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day, who encouraged and supported Gibran in his creative endeavors. A publisher used some of Gibran's drawings for book covers in 1898, and Gibran held his first art exhibition in 1904 in Boston. In 1908, Gibran went to study art with Auguste Rodin in Paris for two years. He later studied art in Boston. While most of Gibran's early writing was in Arabic, most of his work published after 1918 was in English. He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book 'The Prophet', an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again especially in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.