Interpretation of Gibran’s “The Prophet” in Georgian Translations and in Hollywood Animation

Abstract

In 1923 “The Prophet” by Gibran Kahlil (1883-1931) was issued in NY. In the same year it was translated from English into fourteen languages. It was more popular than books of Eliot and Whitman – the most favorite poets of Americans. It seems that this book hasn’t lost its actuality till today. In 2023 the 100^th anniversary from the first publication was celebrated all over the world. It seems that “The Prophet” has not lost its actuality till today. As a reflection on the Western and Eastern philosophical thoughts and the Evangelical thematic, this text is interpretation itself, not to speak about its translations or Screening.   

It’s quite interesting to research “The Prophet” as subject of the theory of translation, as in some languages there are not only two or three but seven (in Arabic) and twelve (into French) translations of it. There are differences not only in the perceptions of translators (how they read the text) but also in the forms of presenting it to the readers. This piece of literature really gives a possibility of making a lot of variations. How is it transferred into Georgian?! Three Georgian versions have been published till now. The Georgian translators read this text separately and translated it with the different accents.

The translation by M. Gigineishvili (issued in 2006) is a typical example of the dynamic equivalency.  In spite of it, she translates religious terms very exactly as the main thing for her is the religious plot of “The Prophet”. Its depth of thoughts is more important for D. D. Gogibedashvili. He reads original as the philosophical wisdom and transfers it into Georgian in a quite complicated way including his own ideas in it (issued in 2007). As for me, the poeticism and lightness of the original version are most significant. I tried not to lose Gibran’s simple, easily acceptable and poetical language and its paradoxicality (issued in 2013).

People of different nationalities or faith were attracted by the extraordinal style, deepness of “The Prophet”, an actress and producer in Hollywood Salma Hayek among them. In 2014 she produced the animated drama film “The Prophet”, which was awarded as the best animation at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. The visualization of poetry was the most important thing for Hayek. The main massages of the author should be expressed and penetrated into the unconscious of the viewers by the images.

In the beginning of the 20^th century the boy from the Lebanon’s mountains had to immigrate to the USA. In the 20s he managed to establish himself in NY as an intellectual. Almost hundred years after the first publication of “The Prophet” one Georgian translator was touched by its religiousness, the second was attracted by the philosophical thoughts in it and the third – by its poeticism. Such different perceptions influenced translations as well. As for the author of animated movie, the most important thing for her in the text is humanity and spirituality which has no time, nationality, sex or territory.