In 1926, the fourth book that Kahlil Gibran wrote in English was published in New York: Sand and Foam (A Book of Aphorisms). It contains 322 short aphorisms that were compiled with the help of Barbara Young, Gibran's secretary between 1925 and 1931.
They are ideas that Gibran jotted down in his notebook or on odd pieces of paper in English or in Arabic. Gibran and his benefactress Mary Haskell went through the collection and decided they were worth publishing...
The book forms the most intimate and personal of his writings and reveals to us the poet's most sincere beliefs about life, love, truth, generosity, passion, religion, mankind and himself. In his first three books in English (The Madman, The Forerunner and The Prophet), Gibran developed several of these ideas.
Tainted with typically oriental poetry, Khalil Gibran's form of English is peppered with archaisms and dated phrases. The translation that Philippe delivers is an attempt at conveying the poetry, the rhythm and the breath of the original by resorting to classical French.
Le Sable et l'Écume is Philippe's second book on Gibran. In late 2018, he published Le Fol (The Madman).
For more information and to purchase a copy of the book, please visit:
~ www.maryssael.eu (French) & www.maryssael.eu/en (English)
~ www.demdel-editions.com/105_gibran-khalil (publisher French)
