The Alchemist (novel)
The
Alchemist (Portuguese:
O Alquimista) is a novel
by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho
that was first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese,
it became a widely translated international bestseller.[1][2] An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd in his journey to the pyramids
of Egypt, after having a recurring dream of
finding a treasure there.
Plot
The
Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. Believing a recurring
dream to be prophetic, he asks a Gypsy fortune
teller in the nearby town about its
meaning. The woman interprets the dream as a prophecy telling the boy that he
will discover a treasure at the Egyptian
pyramids.
Early
into his journey, he meets an old king named Melchizedek, or the king of Salem, who tells him to sell his sheep, so
as to travel to Egypt, and introduces the idea of a Personal Legend. Your
Personal Legend "is what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone,
when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is."[3]
Early
in his arrival to Africa, a man who claims to be able to take Santiago to the
pyramids instead robs him of what money he had made from selling his sheep.
Santiago then embarks on a long path of working for a crystal merchant so as to make enough money to fulfill his personal
legend and go to the pyramids.
Along
the way, the boy meets an Englishman who has come in search of an alchemist and
continues his travels in his new companion's company. When they reach an oasis,
Santiago meets and falls in love with an Arabian girl named Fatima, to whom he
proposes marriage. She promises to do so only after he completes his journey.
Frustrated at first, he later learns that true love will not stop nor must one
sacrifice to it one's personal destiny, since to do so robs it of truth.
The
boy then encounters a wise alchemist who also teaches him to realize his true
self. Together, they risk a journey through the territory of warring tribes,
where the boy is forced to demonstrate his oneness with "the soul of the
world" by turning himself into a simoom before he is allowed to proceed. When he begins digging
within sight of the pyramids, he is robbed yet again, but accidentally learns
from the leader of the thieves that the treasure he sought all along was in the
ruined church where he had his original dream.
Background
Coelho
wrote The Alchemist in only two weeks in 1987. He explained that he was
able to write at this pace because the story was "already written in [his]
soul."[4]
The
book's main theme is about finding one's destiny, although according to The New York Times, The Alchemist is "more self-help than
literature".[5] The advice given Santiago that "when you really want
something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes
true" is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that plays
throughout it.[6]
The
Alchemist was first released by Rocco,[7]
an obscure Brazilian publishing house. Albeit having sold "well", the
publisher after a year decided to give Coelho back the rights.[8] Needing to "heal" himself from this setback,
Coelho set out to leave Rio de Janeiro with his wife and spent 40 days in the Mojave
Desert. Returning from the excursion,
Coelho decided he had to keep on struggling[8]
and was "so convinced it was a great book that [he] started knocking on
doors".[4]
Adaptations
In
1994, a comic adaptation was published by Alexandre Jubran.[9] HarperOne, a HarperCollins imprint, produced an illustrated version of the novel, with
paintings by the French artist Mœbius, but failed to convince Coelho "to consent to the full
graphic-novel treatment."[10] The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel was published in
2010, adapted by Derek Ruiz and with artwork by Daniel Sampere.
In
2002, a theatrical adaptation of The Alchemist was produced and
performed in London.[11] Since then there have been several productions by the
Cornish Collective.[12] In 2009 an Indian adaptation of the novel was staged by
Ashvin Gidwani Productions.[13]
In
music, The Alchemist has inspired numerous bands of the same name.[10] In 1997 RCA
Red Seal released The Alchemist's Symphony
by composer and conductor Walter
Taieb with the support of Paulo Coelho,
who wrote an original text for the CD booklet.[14] In September 2009, an orchestral performance was conducted
at the Ansche Chesed Synagogue in New York. Inspired by The Alchemist, "an
orchestral performance" was composed by One World Symphony for composer
and conductor Sung Jin Hong's wedding.[15]
References
· · The Alchemist,
HarperCollins paperback, 1998, p.21
· · Cowles, Gregory
(October 8, 2009). "Inside
the List". The New York Times. Retrieved
January 28, 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment