The Alchemist (Portuguese: O Alquimista is a novel the work of Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, it became an international bestseller translated into some 70 languages ​​by 2016. An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young shepherd Andalusia on its way to the Egyptian pyramids, after recurring dreams of finding treasure there.
Over the years there have been film and theater adaptations of his works and musical interpretations.
Video The Alchemist (novel)
Plot
Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. Believing a recurring dream to be prophetic, he asked a fortune teller from Romani in a nearby town about its meaning. The woman interprets the dream as a prophecy telling the boy that he will find a treasure trove in the Egyptian pyramids.
At the beginning of his journey, he meets an old king named Melchizedek or king of Salem, who tells him to sell his sheep in order to travel to Egypt and introduce the idea of ​​a Personal Legend. Your Personal Legend "is what you always want to achieve Everyone, when they are young, know what their Personal Legend is." He added that "when you want something, all the universes conspire to help you achieve it." This is the central theme of this book.
At the beginning of his arrival to Africa he was robbed by a man who claimed to be able to bring Santiago to the pyramid. This man instead robs the money he earns from selling his sheep and he embarks on a long journey to work as a crystal merchant who earns enough money to pursue his Personal Legend and go to the Pyramids.
Along the way, the boy meets an Englishman who comes looking for an Alchemist and continues his journey with him. When they reached an oasis, Santiago met and fell in love with an Arab girl named Fatima, whom she asked to marry him. He promises to do it only after he finishes his journey. He is frustrated by this, but then learns that true love will not stop or must be a sacrifice for that personal fate of a person, for to do so robs the truth.
The boy then meets a wise alchemist who also teaches him to realize his true self. Eventually they risk traveling through the tribal areas of war, where boys are forced to show their unity with "The Soul of the World" by transforming him into a simoom before he is allowed to continue. As he begins to dig in the pyramid's view, he is robbed but accidentally learns from the thieving leader that the treasure he is looking for all the time in the ruined church where he has his original dream.
Maps The Alchemist (novel)
Novel
Coelho wrote The Alchemist in just two weeks in 1987. He explained he could write at this speed because his story "was written in his soul."
The main theme of this book is about finding one's destiny. According to The New York Times The Alchemist is "more self-help than literature". An old king told Santiago that "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your expectations come true". This is the essence of the novel philosophy and motif that plays Coelho's entire writing on The Alchemist.
The Alchemist was first released by an unclear Brazilian publishing house. Despite having sold "good", the publisher after a year decided to give back the right to Coelho because "he can make more money in the stock market."
Needing to "heal" himself from this setback, Coelho left Rio de Janeiro with his wife and spent 40 days in the Mojave Desert. Upon his return from the streets, Coelho decides he has to keep fighting. Coelho "was pretty sure it was a great book that [he] started knocking on the door".
Share file
Paulo Coelho is a strong advocate for spreading his book through a peer-to-peer file sharing network. He put his own books on file-sharing networks like BitTorrent, and notes that The Alchemist receives a boost in sales because of this. He stated that "I think that when a reader has the possibility to read several chapters, he can always decide to buy the book later". Currently, chapters from The Alchemist can be found at Google Books and Coelho's agency Sant Jordi Associados.
Reception
The novel is not an instant bestseller. Published by a small publisher, The Alchemist , like its predecessor, The Pilgrimage , sold "slowly" in Brazil. His commercial success soared in France when it became an unexpected "best seller" in the early 1990s.
Advertiser , the Australian newspaper, published one of the first English-language Reviews The Alchemist in 1993, says, "books that I can recommend with unshakable confidence from After read it and be fascinated, impressed, comforted or moved, the universal gift may be a clear little fairy tale called The Alchemist ... In a moving prose translated from the native Brazilian language in Portuguese, Andalusia's young shepherd to the desert in his quest for dreams and the fulfillment of his destiny. "Since then, the novel has received much praise, making it the top-ranked list in 74 countries and winning prestigious awards in Germany and Italy. These have been called "dazzling stories", "brilliant, simple narratives" and "beautiful stories, metaphors of life", from people in diverse places such as South Africa, Finland and Turkey. It has been praised by public figures such as Will Smith and Jorge Garcia. Arash Hejazi, Iranian publisher Paulo Coelho, believes that The Alchemist is remarkable in some ways: he notes that the book has a "longer life cycle than expected... It's not supported by a marketing budget that high in the first few years after publication, not written in French or Spanish, does not enjoy tie-in movies and is not recommended by positive reviews and media, but still sells, relying only from word of mouth as its primary marketing tool. "
Cultural effects
Movie adaptation
Coelho said he was reluctant to sell the rights to his book. He believes that a book has "a life of its own in the mind of the reader", and rarely does he find an adaptation appropriate to the book. Nonetheless, with time, Coelho decided to open up that possibility.
In 2003, Warner Bros purchased the rights to film adaptation of The Alchemist. The project stalled and the movie never materialized, reportedly due to a problem with the script. At one point, the script has a battle sequence with 10,000 soldiers, which is "not about what the book is about." Reportedly, Coelho offered US $ 2 million to Warner Bros. to buy back his film rights to The Alchemist .
During the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein announced that he had purchased the rights to the film and would act as the producer. Laurence Fishburne is set to steer, and plays an eponymous character. It will have a reported budget of $ 60 million. Weinstein, who rarely personally produced the film, stated that "My loyalty is not to Laurence [Fishburne], my loyalty is not to me, my loyalty is not to anyone other than Paulo Coelho." Coelho added, "I am very happy that my book will be filmed the way I want and I hope the spirit and simplicity of my work will be maintained." I am delighted my friends Laurence Fishburne and Harvey Weinstein will work together. "In June 2015, it was reported that Idris Elba is set to portray the protagonist and Fishburne will direct the film instead.
Other media
HarperOne, a HarperCollins trail, produced an illustrated version of the novel, with a painting by French artist Moebius, but failed to convince Coelho "to approve the full graphic novel treatment." In June 2010, HarperOne announced it would publish a graphic novel adaptation. Alchemist: A Graphic Novel published in 2010, adapted by Derek Ruiz and artwork by Daniel Sampere.
Theatrical adaptation The Alchemist is produced and performed by Cornish Collective, which is the most successful production to date. It was staged for the first time in India by Ashvin Gidwani Productions. Kajol and Karan Johar launched the theater adaptation of this book in India.
In music, The Alchemist has inspired many bands with the same name. In 1997 the classic label RCA Red Seal released The Alchemist's Symphony by composer and conductor Walter Taieb with the support of Paulo Coelho who wrote the original text for the Booklet CD. In September 2009, an orchestra performance was performed at Ansche Chesed Synagogue on the Upper West Side. Inspired by The Alchemist , "an orchestra show" was composed by One World Symphony for the wedding of composer and conductor Sung Jin Hong.
References
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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