RNLN #14 The Prophet: Kahlil Gibran’s Exploration of Abstract Nouns

Reading Novels Like a Novelist (RNLN 14)

To get back into my abstractions posts, and my reading novels like a novelist (RNLN) posts I thought I’d explore The Prophet as both.

I finally read The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, originally published in 1923. The short book had been on my radar for a while, but I just never got to it, until now. And I’m glad I did. The text is an exploration of many different abstract nouns in the form of a question and answer. The main character of the story is leaving town because his ship has finally arrived, and the town’s people have one last chance to obtain his wisdom, so each in turn, identified by their roles, asks about an abstraction related to their role. For example: “Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, Speak to us of Crime and Punishment.”

The Prophet doesn’t have much of a story, and yet it takes the reader on a journey through the unexpected answers to the requests. When the mason says, “Speak to us of Houses,” you wouldn’t expect “Houses” to be an abstract noun, but in this book it is. He answers: “Your house is your larger body. It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and is not dreamless.”

Applying What I Learned

Though I don’t think I will ever write in this style, I did think I could apply the way he speaks about abstract nouns in my novel. Also, the idea that people’s roles in a society—their work, expertise, specialty—will determine their questions, their mind-set, and their focus which is a good thing to keep in mind when developing characters.

I thought the most interesting sections in The Prophet were the sections about contradictory abstract nouns: Joy and Sorrow; Crime and Punishment; Reason and Passion; good and evil. His statements were more along the lines of talking about them as a continuum than I expected for this book. He says, “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.” And when speaking of good and evil he says, “For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?”

How can I use that in my novel? The main characters in my novel each represent one of the big five contradictory abstract nouns: truth/deceit; beauty/ugliness; love/apathy; happiness/misery; wisdom/naivete. I can write out what I want to say about the big five contradictory nouns that my characters represent, and then brainstorm questions that would give the character the opportunity to say those things. Then write the character saying them in his or her own words. I can come up with scenes or find the scenes in the draft where that would fit.

I won’t write two page monologues like The Prophet , but short interesting conclusions that the character has come to through his or her own experiences that tells the reader more about the contradictory abstract nouns the character represents will add interest to the story. It makes sense that Verity would talk about truth and deceit, and Memphis would talk about beauty and ugliness, etc.

Seattle Arts & Lectures Summer Book Bingo

I saw that the Summer Book Bingo cards are up, and had a ton of fun picking out the books I’ll read for the different Bingo squares. I chose a selection of Adult and YA fiction, graphic novels, short story collections, a memoir, a couple poetry collections, and even a picture book. I’ll share my full list when I’ve figured it out.

Needless to say, I have a lot of reading to do to get through the stack of books I already have from the library, so I can go stock up on my new list. And I have to up my reading game to two novels a week to finish on time (Bingo ends September 5).

I’ll be combining some of the books I’ve been reading into my coming RNLN posts since I have a bunch of catching up to do, then I may only choose one of the two books I read each week to talk about, or I might post two RNLN posts a week, but slim them down to only focus on the main thing I learned from the novel. Either way, I’m back to reading novels like a novelist, and excited for summer reading.

Today’s images

Inspired by reading Joan Mitchell by Sarah Roberts, Katy Siegel, et al., I started thinking about creating triptychs of my images.

dVerse Poets Pub

For today’s Poetics prompt, Lisa invites us to be inspired by music. For today’s poem, I put on a record from 1957 (I think it belonged to my grandparents) called “Music From Another World” performed by The Jay Gordon Concert Orchestra. Here’s what it inspired:

Music From Another World

Cautious steps on lit discs
across a pond
Will they hold or falter,
tipping me awkwardly,
flailing, falling . . .
But no, they hold
and I’ve arrived

under the lanterns,
swirling in time
encircled and pressed close . . .
But now, the turns are dizzying,
and my head swivels, searching
for an escape, an excuse
to wriggle free and flee

into the darkness
but there’s a tight grip
under the lights
and the dance spins on
far from the chirping
frogs in the pond

The chill air bathes us
as we catch our breath,
watching the lingerers sway
We slowly move away from the lanterns
to expand with the stars
into another world where the music
of a billion years travels
to pulse in our eyes
with our heated hearts.