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Gibran's THE PROPHET is an important work to me. It is one of those books you can re-read over and over and always find something "new" in the pages. That, for me, is sort of the penultimate in a book.
A TEAR AND A SMILE was written by a much younger Gibran. His language is much more "flowery" and it seems he has that youthful, bohemian ideal that holds Art and the Artist in a higher regard. You can still see glimpses of the man that will go on to write THE PROPHET, just a more idealistic one perhaps. A number of these tales personify Beauty, Wisdom, Nature, and Love. His tales feature Persian and Hellenic themes, but also have a strong Christian thread running through them.
One thing I was not expecting, however were his stories about the huge gap between wealthy and poor ("The Palace And The Hut," "Two Infants,") In these, the idea that the poor and powerless will be rewarded in the afterlife shines through. It sort of amazes me how many of his stories about the aftermath of war and the wealth gap ring just as true today as they probably did in the early 1900s.
Sometimes the style does become a little repetitive, but each tale is only a few pages long -- sometimes as little as two -- so it is easy to put aside and come back to.
I look forward to grabbing it again in a few years to see how much grabs me, and what different things stick out.
A TEAR AND A SMILE was written by a much younger Gibran. His language is much more "flowery" and it seems he has that youthful, bohemian ideal that holds Art and the Artist in a higher regard. You can still see glimpses of the man that will go on to write THE PROPHET, just a more idealistic one perhaps. A number of these tales personify Beauty, Wisdom, Nature, and Love. His tales feature Persian and Hellenic themes, but also have a strong Christian thread running through them.
One thing I was not expecting, however were his stories about the huge gap between wealthy and poor ("The Palace And The Hut," "Two Infants,") In these, the idea that the poor and powerless will be rewarded in the afterlife shines through. It sort of amazes me how many of his stories about the aftermath of war and the wealth gap ring just as true today as they probably did in the early 1900s.
Sometimes the style does become a little repetitive, but each tale is only a few pages long -- sometimes as little as two -- so it is easy to put aside and come back to.
I look forward to grabbing it again in a few years to see how much grabs me, and what different things stick out.