The Wanderer : A Deconstructive Study of Kahlil Gibran’s “The Quest”
Chetan N. Trivedi, Namrata Zala, Rohal S. Raval
Advanced International Journal for Research July 19, 2026 DOI: 10.63363/aijfr.2026.v07i04.6921 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Gibran's parable "The Quest" is structured by spiritual quest, mysticism, non-dualism, and irony, and that its stranger's claim that the wanderers dwell within themselves and nothing is outside them parallels the deconstructive maxim "There is nothing outside of text," inviting a deconstructive reading that exposes paradoxes within the text. |
Abstract
The divine truth is revealed only to certain wanderers across time, who deliberately or transparently travel upon the path of spiritualism to seek their inner being. One of the key figures and spiritualists of romantic period is a Lebanese-American visual artist—a poet, prophet and a divine philosopher, above all a saint, “Kahlil Gibran”. He was one of the most known poets across the world for his incomparable prophetic writings, noble diction and personification. The gold-edged papers, or gilt-edged pages of The Prophet, signifies that the content is timeless or highly valuable, making it popular for spiritualism. Gibran’s oeuvre, still resonates eternal truth like a lotus of countless petals and explores different literary forms like poetry, parables, political essays, aphorisms, short stories, fables and letters. “The Quest” is one of the many parables of The Wanderer — two philosophers, while peregrination, met at a slope of Lebanon, interestingly both of them were seeking their contrasting modes of inquiry, meanwhile; rhetorically, they were enlightened by a stranger, “that they both are dwelling within them and there is nothing outside of them”, in other words, “There is nothing outside of text”—within this framework of deconstructive study, the parable, “The Quest” is woven by the threads of spiritual quest, mysticism, non-dualism and irony, thus, these two wanderers’ eternal search of truth or meaning depicts a deconstructive reader to divulge those paradoxical state of affairs, knit within the text itself.