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The Book of Khalid

Ameen Fares Rihani

PhilosophyEnglish
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Khalid, a young dreamer from Baalbek in Lebanon, emigrates to New York with his friend Shakib at the end of the nineteenth century. In the cellars of lower…

Catalogue details

Author
Ameen Fares Rihani
Category
Philosophy
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

Khalid, a young dreamer from Baalbek in Lebanon, emigrates to New York with his friend Shakib at the end of the nineteenth century. In the cellars of lower Manhattan they peddle trinkets and holy pictures; Khalid reads hungrily, turns to poetry and politics and is drawn into the corruption of American elections. Returning home, he preaches a new faith that would unite East and West, the spirituality of the Orient with the science and freedom of the West, and his preaching stirs up trouble in the Ottoman lands.

Context and significance

Ameen Rihani (1876–1940), born in Freike in Mount Lebanon, published the book in New York in 1911 with illustrations by Kahlil Gibran, and it is considered the first novel in English by an Arab author. Rihani, who also wrote in Arabic and travelled widely in Arabia, is often called the father of Arab-American literature. Read Gibran's The Prophet.

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