106, Ji Bolun was born in Beshi, a beautiful mountain city in northern Lebanon. His family belongs to the Maronites. Mother is a pious and kind person. In Ji Bolun's mind, she is the embodiment of love and beauty. My father is a rough mountaineer, and he is also engaged in livestock statistics in the countryside. Because friends were not careful, they were sued, which led to the poverty of the whole family. In desperation, my mother came to Boston with her four children and lived in the poorest Chinese area. Ji Bolun is 12 years old. From 65438 to 0898, Ji Bolun returned to the motherland with the hope of the whole family and entered the "HIKMA" (WISE) College in Beirut. He used his vacation to go deep into the society and write down his experiences and feelings. During this period, he had an essential understanding of political autocracy, religious deception and stale traditions under the rule of Ottoman Empire in Turkey, and published articles in school publications to expose and criticize them.
After finishing his studies, Ji Bolun went to America again. His little sister, brother and mother died one after another within one year, and they owed a lot of treatment fees. From 1903 to 1908, Ji Bolun painted and wrote for Arabian Diaspora magazine. Mary haskell, the headmaster of the girls' school, became his bosom friend and close friend, which played an important role in his creation.
1905, Ji Bolun's first work "Music Short Chapters" was published, which is a booklet about the history of music development and its relationship with human beings, showing the author's artistic talent. He vividly shows the essence of music through clever association, metaphor and anthropomorphic description. He called music "the daughter of heart and love", "the container of bitter juice and sweet spring of love", "the illusion of human mind", "sad fruit and happy flower" and "the fragrance rising from the gathered emotional bouquet". He turned abstract music into tangible things. He called for music with a series of exclamations, thus revealing the role of music in love life, literature and art and world history. The romantic artistic style of music short chapters indicates Ji Bolun's future creative direction.
1906 Ji Bolun published his first collection of short stories, The Bride of the Grassland. The first article "Mars mythology? Tabania? Describe an innocent rural girl who was tricked into the city, became a trampled fireworks girl, and finally died of poverty and disease. The novel accuses the evil deeds of "animals hiding in human buildings" and shows great sympathy for Arab women who are insulted and hurt. Crazy John describes a young shepherd who was beaten and imprisoned because his cattle strayed into the territory of a monastery. Only after his mother handed over her wedding silver necklace and his father proved that his son was "crazy" was he released. The novel exposes the collusion between the church and the secular regime and their ignorant policies, and announces through the protagonist's mouth: "The lamb sent by Jesus to preach life has become a jackal", and they have "turned the church into a cave of poisonous snakes; Rob the weak. "
1907, Ji Bolun published his second collection of short stories "Rebellious Soul", which created several characters who dared to resist. Valerie Hani dares to dominate her own destiny, boldly abandon her prison-like family and marry her beloved. She "broke free from the shackles of decadent human canon in order to live according to lofty rules." This is the first female rebellious image in modern Arabic novels. The protagonist in the wedding bed is also a woman who challenges the dark society and stale traditions. In order to realize the ideal of love, she and her lover were both martyred. The apostate Khalil described the awakening of an upright young man and the victory of the social forces he represented.
Mary haskell sponsored Ji Bolun to study painting in Europe. He absorbed the essence of western classical and modern art in Paris Art Institute and London Art Museum, and was praised and supported by Rodin. Rodin called him "william blake of the 20th century".
19 1 1 At the end of the year, Ji Bolun published his novella Broken Wings, which received enthusiastic response. The story tells that Salma, a rich girl, was forced into marriage by the archbishop's nephew and became a victim of marriage. Although she has a chance to escape from the fence with her lover, she is like a bird with broken wings, and it is difficult to fly. Five years later, she gave birth to a child, but the child died at birth. She died, too. The author sublimates this love tragedy into a symbol of the oriental national tragedy: "Isn't that weak woman a symbol of the humiliated nation?" A woman who is struggling for love, but her body is firmly imprisoned, is not a nation tortured by rulers and priests? ..... A woman in a country is like a light from a lamp. If there is enough oil in the lamp, will the light on the lamp dim? "The praise of the mother in the novel also includes the love and attachment to the motherland and the nation. The author thinks that mother "is kind and sweet from the heart." "Mother is everything in life."
Ji Bolun's novels are full of sociality and profound oriental spirit. He doesn't win by stories, and he doesn't describe complicated characters' entanglements. Instead, he focuses on the psychological feelings of the characters and their rich hearts. A long speech is like an aria in an opera, and a defense in court is very infectious. The author often takes "I" as one of the protagonists, and directly intervenes in the story to make the narrative appear true. The tragic significance and critical consciousness permeated in the novel combine sadness and anger, which can trigger hatred and deep thinking about the ugly reality of society.
Since the 1920s, Ji Bolun's creative focus has shifted from novels to prose and prose poems. He changed from writing in Arabic to writing mainly in English. His works published in Arabic include: Tears and Laughter (19 13), a long poem praising youth and freedom (19 19), and Storm Collection (1920) full of passion and social critical consciousness. His works published in English include Fable, anthology of prose poems, Crazy Man (19 18), Pioneer (1920), anthology of philosophical lyric prose poems, The Prophet (1923) and The Prophet. His masterpieces include The Wanderer (1932) and The Garden of the Prophet (1933).
Tears and Laughter contains the earliest essays and prose poems written and published by Ji Bolun, showing the social and literary themes that young Ji Bolun is most concerned about: love and beauty, nature, philosophy of life, humanitarianism, social justice, the poet's mission and loneliness. They also pointed out the creative direction of Ji Bolun's life. In Beauty and Before the Throne of the God of Beauty, the author regards beauty as a religion and a god, which makes "wise men and philosophers climb the ladder of the throne of truth". Ci Written by Fire criticizes Keats' negative outlook on life and shows the great spirit of writing life in the sky with fire. "blame" puts forward that "the earth is my motherland, and human beings are my villagers" and "you are human, I love you, my brother!" Oppose narrow patriotism and nationalism. Song of the Waves, Song of the Rain, Song of Beauty and Song of Flowers are the most beautiful and charming in this series, integrating emotion, scenery and reason.
The Storm Collection contains Ji Bolun's most realistic, critical and powerful essays and prose poems. In a surreal way, the grave digger created an image of a "mad god" who dared to "blaspheme the sun" and "curse mankind" and made him shout "I am my own master!" This image reflects Ji Bolun's contempt and hatred for the stale tradition and its defenders. Slavery reveals the universal slavery in human history and reality, points out that slavery is a "permanent disaster" and makes people's years "full of humiliation and meanness", and puts forward a historical topic of breaking the chain of slavery and ending idolatry. Anesthesia and Scalpel analyzes the reasons why the "sick man of the East" can't be cured for a long time, and points out that orientals love honey and are afraid of doctors, while doctors in the East specialize in "anesthesia" and can only delay but can't cure diseases. He stressed that in order to eradicate the persistent diseases in the East, it is necessary to pick up a "scalpel" for thorough treatment. The Ambitious Violet illustrates the idea that "the purpose of existence is to pursue something other than existence" in the form of fable.
Many poems in True Fun reflect Ji Bolun's patriotic feelings. "You have your Lebanon, I have my Lebanon" describes his ideal country in poetic language, hoping that the sons and daughters of the motherland can represent Lebanon "the will in the rocks, the nobility in the majestic, the sweetness in the running water and the fragrance in the air". "The Hazy Motherland" depicts the love and attachment of overseas wanderers to their homeland with seemingly true brushstrokes. "New Era" shows the struggle between old and new ideas in the modern East, and calls on compatriots to respond to the call of life and be "free people who belong to tomorrow".
The works of madmen, pioneers and vagrants have profound implications and rich philosophies. Crazy Man reveals all kinds of abnormal phenomena in human society with metaphors and symbols, and points out that the so-called perfect world is actually the most imperfect. The so-called gentleman is actually a person who wears a mask and dares not "sunbathe naked"; The so-called lunatics dare to throw away their masks and look directly at the sun. Pioneer proves the necessity of human beings to break through the spiritual cage and pursue the "big self" soaring in the sky from the perspective of history and evolution. The author expressed his love for mankind through the mouth of a pioneer. The Wanderer criticized ignorance for trampling on cultural values, showed the sadness and absurdity of cultural poverty, and affirmed the true value of the creator's loneliness and pain.
Ji Bolun, with his rich artistic achievements, has become a banner for Arab overseas writers. 1920, he and the famous writer Numan jointly initiated and organized the first modern Arab literary group "Pen Club" as its president. This group has greatly stimulated and promoted the development of Arab overseas and even local literature. American literature, represented by Ji Bolun, has become a bridge between Arab literature and world literature, leaving a colorful page in the history of the revival of Arab literature.
Ji Bolun lived in the United States for more than 20 years and died in new york in 193 1. In the same year, his body was transported back to Lebanon, and the poet finally realized his wish to return to the motherland.