Broken Wings [Hardcover]

Kahlil Gibran (Author), Juan R. I. Cole (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 188399103X | ISBN-13: 978-1883991036 | Publication Date: July 1, 1998

In Broken Wings, Kahlil Gibran uncovers the glory and pain of young love. This loosely autobiographical story is in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, but with Gibran's characteristic lush Oriental settings and images. A young Kahlil is introduced to Faris Karama, a wealthy and good-hearted merchant of Beirut, and his daughter, Salma. Kahlil and Salma are deeply attracted to on another and continue to meet regularly, with the blessings of Faris Karama. But a powerful priest, Father Ghalib, in order to gain access to the Karama fortune, demands that his son be allowed to marry Salma.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lyrical and dynamic, free from the rhetorical flourishes common in traditional Middle Eastern literature, Kahlil Gibrans early short stories, prose poems, and vignettesall written in Arabicmade a profound impact on his fellow immigrants in America and on his fellow writers in his native region long before The Prophet made him a best-selling English author in 1923. Now White Cloud Press has launched a series of contemporary translationsdesigned to replace the generally inaccurate ones issued after his death in 1931of Gibrans most significant work. Publishers Weekly -- Publisher Comments

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 122 pages
• Publisher: White Cloud Press (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188399103X
• ISBN-13: 978-1883991036
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Middle Eastern > Arabic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Redolent and Insightful, August 2, 2001

By 

David Kopp (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broken Wings (Paperback)

Broken Wings is a simple story which serves as a canvas for Kahlil Gibran's flights of beautiful prose and philosophical insight. Gibran's prose is simply redolent with images. His evocative narration paints pictures with words which both took me away and taught me. Gibran's point is so much more clear and simply arresting for the crispness of his imagery, such as when he writes: "Those ample treasure chests that the energy of the father and the thrift of the mother fill up are transformed into dark, narrow prison cells for their heirs. That mighty deity whom the people worship in the form of money metamorphoses into a horrifying demon who tortures the people and kills the heart." (p.51)

There were several thoughts of Gibran's that I found similarly significant. In talking about the blossoming of love, Gibran writes that love is not "born of long association and unbroken companionship." Instead, he writes, it is "the daughter of a spiritual understanding, and if that understanding is not achieved in a single moement, it will never be attained -- not in a year, not in a whole century" (p. 41). My limited experience leads me to believe precisely this. Likewise, I agreed with Gibran when he writes that "Limited love demands possession of the beloved, but infinite love desires only its own essence" (p. 97).

If Gibran has a fundamental message in Broken Wings, though, I think that it is surrounding the tension or balance between putting everything that we can into our love and our endeavors, and the need to contextualize that love or endeavor in such a way that it does not consume that which we are. Gibran's narrator struggles with this tension. He wants to spirit Salma away to a life of true love. He wants her to break her word to her father and follow her heart. Mostly, he doesn't want her to give up on their love. His defense of this course of action is passionate: "For the soul to experience torment because of its perseverance in the face of trials and difficulties is more noble than for it to retreat to a place of safety and calm. The moth that contines to flutter about the lamp until it burns up is more exalted than the mole that lives in comfort and security in its dark tunnel" (p.73).

The imagery is again evocative, and certainly, I think, speaks to me: if you are to pursue life, pursue it like the moth -- soaring to unimagined heights and experiences. Don't be a mole who attempts to prolong his life by simply hiding himself away -- but never really experiencing life. Live, don't simply preserve an unlived life. Such a good reminder for us.

Love (and any endeavor, I imagine) isn't always so black-and-white, though. Salma's understanding is deeper and more complicated: before even her emotions and her love, she places her commitment to her father and to her (unloving) husband. There is incredible power in her choosing integrity over running away to a love which Gibran paints as being the fulfillment of all of our hopes for love. There is some unspoken insight here about integrity and commitment, I think. It is, perhaps, part of the foundation of love itself, a necessary ingredient for its presence.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars M"May God Have Mercy Upon our Broken Wings" Gibran, December 14, 1999

By 

Qai Arsala (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Broken Wings (Paperback)

One day it is my dream to pay hommage to my great teacher of life, Khalil Gibran. And I would like to go to his grave site in Lebanon and have a copy of "The Broken Wings" to read for his spirit.I think that tears (under certain conditions) are a cleanser to the human soul, and no literature piece has ever moved me as much as Gibrans Broken Wings. If there is ONE book that I will recommend, let it be the "Broken Wings". May Gibrans wisdom, art, passions, and art accompany you for the rest of your life.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and pure love., October 17, 2002

By 

harendra desai (Bombay, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Broken Wings (Paperback)

In the Broken Wings, Gibran touches a variety of subjects like love, plight of women, hypocracy of self serving religious heads, false values on which human socities are built, and true prayer and sacrifice. And all is told in very few majestically beautiful words without malice to any one.
"Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that laws of humanity do not alter its course."
" Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and ..........is created in a moment."
Gibran says of the plight of the women by describing them as
" the bird with broken wings in a cage."
Of heads of religions, Gibran says, "Thus the Christian Bishop and the Moslem imam and the Brahman priest are like sea reptiles who clutch their prey with many tentacles and suck their blood with numerous mouths." How true are these words!
Gibran tells how "in some countries, the parent's wealth is a source of misery for the children."
Yet the woman in the story, although falling in the abyss of miseries, prays "help me, my Lord, to be strong in this deadly struggle and assist me to be truthful and virtuous until death. Thy will be done, oh Lord God."
And finally she sacrifices her own life fot he sake of her beloved thus bringing glory to "sacrifice."
Tears rolled down my cheeks while reading the tragic end of the story. But I felt these tears have cleansed my spirit.
The reading of The Broken Wings is a must for any one who wants to experience a tearful smile or a sorrowful joy or miseries for a true prayer.