The Prophet

A prophet shares his wisdom on love, marriage, children, work, joy, sorrow, and death. Written by a Lebanese-American mystic in 1923, this slim book of poetic essays has sold over 100 million copies and been translated into more than 100 languages.

Why Read This

The Prophet is the most widely read work of Middle Eastern origin in the Western world, and it demonstrates a side of the tradition that the novels of Mahfouz and Pamuk do not: the mystical, the spiritual, the aphoristic. Gibran draws on Sufi poetry, the Bible, and Nietzsche to create a voice that belongs to no single tradition and speaks to all of them.

Where the other two books are long, dense, and culturally specific, The Prophet is short, accessible, and universal. It is the book that has been read at more weddings and funerals than any other work from the Middle East, and it shows how the region’s literary tradition encompasses not just realism and mystery but also a strain of spiritual wisdom literature that goes back thousands of years.

What to Expect

Twenty-six short poetic essays on life’s fundamental themes. Can be read in an hour. The prose is lyrical and aphoristic. No cultural context required. One of the bestselling books of the twentieth century.