THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE of WESTERN WRITERS on the FIRST GENERATION of ARAB-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT WRITERS a Thesis Presented To
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THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF WESTERN WRITERS ON THE FIRST GENERATION OF ARAB-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT WRITERS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty at the University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree Master of English Rawan Alshareif May, 2018 THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF WESTERN WRITERS ON THE FIRST GENERATION OF ARAB-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT WRITERS Rawan Alshareif Thesis Approved: Accepted: Advisor Dean of the Collage Dr. Hillary Nunn Dr. John Green Faculty Reader Dr. Joseph Ceccio Dean of Graduate School Dr. Chand Midha Faculty Reader Date Dr. Heather Bruan ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 4 II. RALPH WALDO EMERSON’S INFLUENCE ON AMEEN RIHANI’S THE BOOK OF KHALID (1911) .............................................................................................. 10 Transcendentalism ......................................................................................................... 11 Rihani's life as Shaping force for Khalid ………………………………………,,,,,,….14 III. THE INFLUENCE OF WILLIAM BLAKE’S ON GIBRAN KHALIL GIBRAN IN THE PROPHET (1923)...................................................................................................... 32 Defining Romanticism .................................................................................................. 34 Blake and Gibran ........................................................................................................... 35 Gibran Khalil Gibran… ................................................................................................. 36 IV. RUSSIAN LITERATURE AND LEO TOLSTOY'S INFLUENCE ON MIKHAIL NAIMY IN THE BOOK OF MIRDAD (1948) ................................................................. 48 Literature and Morality for Tolstoy and Naimy ............................................................ 50 The influence of Tolstoy in The Book of Mirdad .......................................................... 55 V. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 64 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 68 iii INTRODUCTION This thesis focuses on the influence of elements of Western literature as exemplified by specific writers on Arabic immigrants who came to the United States between 1911 and 1950. In 1920 in New York City, a small group of Arab-American writers formed a literary society under the name of the Pen League, also called "al- Mahjar” which aimed to create a literary bridge between the East and the West (Kayyali 126). Its members decided to write their own works in English as well as translate significant examples of Arabic literature (Kayyali 126). Salma Jayyusi describes how these early Arab-American writers came to the United States as immigrants with the desire for change and thus to break away from the traditions of Arabic writing (131). At that time the Turkish military ruled most of the Arabic speaking world and thus wielded a tremendous amount of power which impeded free expression. This prevented Arabic literature from developing (Al Maleh 314). However, these writers who had formed the Pen League were able to write freely once they arrived in the United States, and subsequently their literature made a great impact both inside and outside of the United States. Most of the Pen League writers, predominantly Christians, had immigrated from Lebanon and Syria (O’Connor 98). It is important to point out that the members of the Pen League considered writing in the United State to be an opportunity, because here they could express their thoughts freely in contrast to their home countries (Kayyali 126). 4 Ameen Rihani, Gibran Khalil Gibran, and Mikhail Naimy are the Pen League writers on whom I focus, whose work clearly demonstrates this reflection of Western literature whether they wrote in Arabic or English (Al Maleh 314). These three writers likewise have in common the influence of Western religious philosophy and its writers. The Book of Khalid (1911) by Rihani, The Prophet (1923) by Gibran, and The Book of Mirdad by Naimy all reflect the influence of Western religious writers in many aspects. For example, either directly or indirectly, each presents his protagonist as a prophet. Additionally, these characters deliver enlightening wisdom to their people, just as the prophets had done, about morality, and thus offer readers a better understanding of life, as well as advice about spirituality, religion, and God. Rihani's novel The Book of Khalid tells Khalid's story, the struggles that he faces when he emigrates to the United States, while trying to understand his identity. As a result of the identity struggle, Khalid undergoes a personal and spiritual change. Then, Khalid decides to go back to his home country, Lebanon, to rescue it from the rule of the Ottoman Empire, which he attempts to do by giving political speeches that encourage the people to rebel. The story ends with Khalid’s disappearance as the Ottoman Empire had pressured him to stop his political activities. Gibran’s The Prophet presents a character who will rescue the people through his wisdom in life. The book starts with a farewell; a prophet wants to leave, but a group of people encourage him to stay longer to give them advice about different topics. The prophet agrees and talks about many different aspects of life, 5 such as love, marriage, joy, and sorrow. Mirdad in Naimy's The Book of Mirdad, gives speeches that inspire his group members. All three of these works use the same method to deliver the writers’ thoughts through their protagonists, advising the people with moral lessons about matters which pertain to life, as well as thoughts about religion and God. The first chapter discusses the influence of the Transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on Ameen Rihani, as shown in The Book of Khalid. In this chapter, I first identify and define Transcendentalism and its relationship to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Then, I analyze the novel to show how Ameen Rihani made use of this influence. Both of these writers are linked in that they share similar philosophical perspectives about life, such as understanding the relationship between oneself and God and how nature is the source of spirituality (Funk & Sitka 56). For both Rihani and Emerson, seeing nature as central to spirituality will result in making the individual trust his intuition as a primary source to develop society and understand the value of individualism and its importance for spiritual growth, as presented in the character of the protagonist Khalid. Khalid is a Lebanese man who emigrates to the United States to work. Khalid goes through a spiritual awakening that results in changing his prospective about life. These changes happen when Khalid travels to the United States and occur due to the influence of the Western philosophers that he starts to read. Emerson is one of these writers that the character Khalid reads. Khalid’s character reflects Emerson’s influence; not only does the book mention Khalid's reading of Emerson but also depicts Khalid quoting Emerson. Through the inspiration of Emerson, Khalid starts to connect with nature, and he sees God in nature (Al M Maleh 318). Then, Khalid comes to understand the importance of one's own intention and its link to the individual’s growth. All these inner changes that 6 Khalid goes through make him turn against social norms, and he starts to criticize both the United States and his home country (Funk& Sitka 55). Presented as a prophet, Khalid wants to change and enlighten his society. In the novel, Rihani wanted to send a message to the readers, which is saying that in order to create a better world the East and the West should cooperate. He blends his views with those of the transcendentalist Emerson. Thus, it can be said that Rihani was influenced by Transcendentalism and by Emerson, and that is revealed in his novel The Book of Khalid through the character of Khalid. The second chapter is about the influence of Romanticism, especially Blake, on Gibran's The Prophet. Gibran's book is a collection of poems and prose poems. These poems and prose poems give advice about many different elements of life as told by a prophet. Gibran was influenced by most of the writers from the Romantic era (Jayyusi 362), but he is especially influenced by Blake (Imangulieva 10). There are similarities that can be seen between Blake's and Gibran's poetry, which occur in two aspects: both use an ideal hero who narrates their poems, and both emphasize the importance of the individual and freedom to achieve self-growth. Additionally, Blake and Gibran wrote about similar matters, such as the concept of love, its relation to truth and the concept of good and evil, and how both are essential to balance life. Also, both borrowed imagery from nature in their poems (Imangulieva 11). In this chapter, I refer to Aida Imangulieva in several points, because she describes most of the similarities between Blake and Gibran in terms of the concept of good and evil and nature imagery. What I add to her research is the concept of the hero -- in other words, the ideal hero who narrates the poems of both Blake and Gibran. To build this chapter further, I used different poems of 7 Blake and compare them to Gibran's book The Prophet. Gibran reflects Blake's writing as can be clearly seen in The Prophet.