Khalid and his friend Shakib leave Baalbek for New York, where they peddle trinkets, live in a cellar and argue with the city. Khalid devours Western books, dabbles in politics and returns to Syria to preach a fusion of East and West that makes enemies of priests and officials alike. Rihani tells it with Arabic flourishes, Emersonian essays and running irony.
Published in 1911 and often called the first novel in English by an Arab American, a forerunner of Gibran. Download the free EPUB.