Author: Kahlil Gibran
• Price — Rs 35
• Publication — UBS Publishers
Miserable is the man who loves a woman and takes her for a wife, pouring at her feet the sweat of his skin, the blood of his body and the life of his heart.
Spirits Rebellious is a collection of three short stories where the author talks of his experiences while interacting with various individuals. The first one, ‘Madame Rose Hanie’, is a third person perspective of the ‘spirits’; the spirits of Hanie and her estranged husband Rashid Bey Namaan and the world that yearns to be liberated. Hanie has long since realised that there is something missing in her life. She is an elite married to a rich man, but there is a void inside her that she cannot define. The strange way in which the world outside lives like a zombie also haunts her. Beautifully, Gibran narrates his meetings with Hanie. The unlighted face looking downward (Past) and the sunlight adding to the glow (present). Hanie has realised what she wants, even if that means giving up all the luxuries and riches she is showered with. Spirits speak.
‘The cry of the graves’, has the author witnessing a court hearing on a day. Three sinisters are punished for crimes that the Emir, the judge finds intolerable. Brutal and inhuman are the judgments that the Emir passes. There is no room for any defence. As Gibran visits their graves he comes to know the real stories and questions arise. Spirits Question.
{{/usCountry}}‘The cry of the graves’, has the author witnessing a court hearing on a day. Three sinisters are punished for crimes that the Emir, the judge finds intolerable. Brutal and inhuman are the judgments that the Emir passes. There is no room for any defence. As Gibran visits their graves he comes to know the real stories and questions arise. Spirits Question.
{{/usCountry}}‘Kahlil the heretic’ documents the story of Sheik Abbas, who was looked upon as a prince by the people of a solitary village in North Lebanon. A terrible case grips him and the village, and Sheik chooses Khalil as his jury. And what follows is an incident that is brutally violent. Spirits Cry.
The three stories urge the reader to look within. There are questions that are in front of us and we overlook them. There are situations when we aren’t allowed to question, prohibited to live the way we think from the heart. There are souls in every one of us that are still fighting to come out in their true form. But what do they say and what are they? Spirits Rebellious!