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| Todd Fine giving a lecture |
The lecture was led by Todd Fine, the director of Project Khalid - which he founded to advance Rihani’s book and its message of reconciliation.
Fine described the uncanny relevance of the novel to our contemporary time, particularly in light of recent events in the Arab world and strains in Arab-American relations since September 11, 2001.
“As US rhetoric was on a march towards apocalyptic disaster, especially since the start of the Iraq War, I instantly grasped that Rihani, as an advocate of cohesion and understanding between the Arab world and the West, could encourage greater critical engagement and needed to be more widely read,” said Fine, who is producing a new critical edition of the novel in an effort to promote its reading in high schools and colleges in
the US.
NU-Q dean and CEO, Everette E Dennis commented on the historic connections between Northwestern and the Arab-American writer: “Rihani lectured at Northwestern University nearly 100 years ago in the US, and a discussion of his work at an American branch university in 21st-century Qatar speaks to his vision of dialogue and unity between East and West.”
The Book of Khalid centres on the story of two Arab boys who immigrate to the “Little Syria” community of Lower Manhattan. While peddling the streets of New York, one of the boys, Khalid is drawn into the city’s intellectual and bohemian scene and becomes a political activist among the Arab community there. Ultimately, Khalid makes a decision to return to his home country of Lebanon and incorporate what he’s learned in America to address the cultural and political dilemmas of the Arab world.
Rihani’s work is attributed to the launch of the great Arab-American literary tradition, best known in the writings of Khalil Gibran, and which has become enormously influential
internationally.
“Unlike most immigrant literary works, Rihani does not problematise assimilation …he writes extensively about the importance of cultural interface and dialogue, and provides an alternate perception of America’s role in the Arab world,” said Fine, a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University who also holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Syracuse University.
Students at NU-Q are studying similar themes in their “Modern Middle Eastern Literature” and “Immigration, Migration and Mobility in American Literature” classes, according to Dr Tracy Vaughn, senior lecturer in the liberal arts programme at NU-Q.
“Yet The Book of Khalid appears to be distinct among immigrant literature of its time,” says Vaughn, “because it diverges from the more popular realist narrative and instead presents a philosophical tale of reverse migration.”
Rihani, who himself immigrated to New York City in 1888 at age 11, became an American citizen in 1901 and authored a diverse array of novels, travelogues, non-fiction books, poems, and articles in both English and Arabic.
Through his many articles and speeches, he dedicated his life to educating Americans about the Arab world, and enlightening Arabs and their leadership about the US.
According to Fine, Rihani’s incorporation of the American stance on freedom, democracy and revolution to Arab intellectual discourse makes his work especially relevant to the winds of change the Arab region is currently witnessing.
Fine is mirroring the novelist’s travels across the Arab world this year, promoting The Book of Khalid in talks at universities across the Middle East in a literary revival campaign that also includes events at the US Library of Congress and academic institutions around the US to celebrate the book’s centennial anniversary.