Mediating east and west: romanticism and Orientalism in Kahlil Gibran’s bilingual oeuvre

One of the most prominent Mahjar (Arab diaspora) figures, Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) synthesised Western and Eastern literary traditions, marrying cross-cultural notions, themes and styles in his English and Arabic writings. The Lebanese-American writer-artist is notable for mastering and refining Arabic Romanticism as well as introducing the genre of prose-poetry into Arabic literature. His English works, on the other hand, fused together Romanticism and Orientalism; Gibran assumed a ‘pan-Oriental’ literary persona in his adopted home in America and presented his parables in English, with the ‘authentic’ voice of an ‘Eastern sage’ from Lebanon. In so doing, Gibran capitalised on Orientalist narratives and reclaimed tropes of Oriental mysticism, which had inspired generations of Western Romantics before him. This paper explores the reciprocal relationship between Romanticism and Orientalism and highlights the role of the ‘exotic Other’ in spreading cross-cultural literary trends and motifs. European Romantics looked East for notional and thematic inspiration. Gibran brought European Romantic influences to Arabic literary traditions, effecting significant stylistic and generic changes in modern Arabic literature. The American-Lebanese poet synthesised Romanticism and Orientalism and appropriated them selectively in his bilingual works. This paper highlights Gibran’s role as a two-way literary conduit conveying cross-cultural themes, notions, styles and traditions in modern Arabic and American Mahjar literatures. The paper also illustrates the organic and continuous movement of ideas and literary trends between East and West, as mediated by Gibran’s reconfiguration of Romanticism and Orientalism.