Kahlil Gibran's Love Letters

Author: (Lebanon) Kahlil Gibran / Xue Qingguo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This book includes nineteen Arabic and English works created by the renowned Lebanese writer, poet, and painter Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) throughout his life, two collections of his correspondence, as well as his family letters and letters to friends. The letters and diaries written by his lovers and girlfriends to him are also included, totaling five volumes, each accompanied by over a hundred of his paintings. Gibran's letters to Mary and May record two different loves and present different styles. The letters to Mary are brisk, straightforward, concise, and effortless, rich in rationality and social content; while the letters to May are subtle, reserved, expressive, and deeply emotional, revealing more of his personal emotional world. Reading the original manuscripts of the letters to May, one can see that these lengthy letters, mostly written late at night, are natural and rarely revised, leaving one impressed by this literary master's fluent writing and exceptional linguistic talent. It should be said that the letters to May hold higher literary value due to their sincere emotions, rich poetic imagery, subtle tone, and exquisite phrasing. The two styles of letters differ primarily because the author's inner experiences of love were different in each case. Second, in the letters to May, Gibran had to subtly hint at love to a refined and talented woman while also aiming to win her affection with his own talent, thus fully demonstrating his skill in writing.