The madman

This is the first book Kahlil Gibran published in English, and it contains thirty-five stories and poems. In *The Madman*, the biting, satirical stories, with their profound meanings, embody bitterness, disappointment, and resentment towards malice, ignorance, and rigidity. He made his protagonist mad to escape logic, for no one blames a madman, or as Gibran said, because madness is the first step towards detachment. As the Surrealist school held, it helps in understanding what lies hidden beneath the veil of reason. The book addresses a single theme: the problem of the self in its relationship to itself, to others, to the universe, and to God. This theme is both social and metaphysical. The book represents the individual who transcends their own nature and the traditions and values ​​of their society, yet finds liberation within them. *The Madman* includes a collection of parables that symbolize liberation, the rejection of traditions, spiritual elevation, and the yearning for perfection, all expressed in simple language that relies on impactful drama, subtle metaphors, and witty similes. The reader of Gibran must pause to consider the many references to the concept of "madness" in his works, and the characters he labeled as "mad." For him, madness is linked to difference from what is prevalent, to the rejection of reality and what it imposes in terms of distancing oneself from the characteristics that befit human life, considering humanity as a representative of divinity on earth; and thus to the desire to rebel against this reality, to reject the unjust laws and traditions it imposes, and to aspire to build another world, more humane, beautiful, and just – even if only in illusion.