Paulo Coelho Explained

Paulo Coelho
Birth Name:Paulo Coelho de Souza
Birth Date:24 August 1947
Birth Place:Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Genre:Drama, romance
Notableworks:The Alchemist
Years Active:1974–present

Paulo Coelho de Souza ([1] pronounced as /pt/; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002.[2] His 1988 novel The Alchemist was an international best-seller.

Early life

Paulo Coelho was born on 24 August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and attended a Jesuit school. At age 17, Coelho's parents committed him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.[3] [4] Coelho later remarked that "It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me."[5]

On his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, travelling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and started using drugs in the 1960s.[6] [7]

Career

Songwriting

Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas. Composing with Raul led to Coelho being associated with magic and occultism, due to the content of some songs.[8] He is often accused that these songs were rip-offs of foreign songs not well known in Brazil at the time.[9] In 1974, by his account, he was arrested for "subversive" activities and tortured[10] [11] by the ruling military government, who had taken power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.[5] Coelho also worked as an actor, journalist and theatre director before pursuing his writing career.[8]

In 1986 Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.[6] [12] On the path, he had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage.[13] In an interview, Coelho stated "[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer."[14] Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.

Writing

In 1982, Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make a substantial impact.[8] In 1986 he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism, although he later tried to take it off the shelves since he considered it "of bad quality."[8] After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage, published in 1987.

While trying to overcome his procrastination about launching his writing career, Coelho decided, "If I see a white feather today, that is a sign that God is giving me that I have to write a new book." Seeing one in the window of a shop, he began writing that day.[13] The following year, Coelho wrote The Alchemist and published it through a small Brazilian publishing house that made an initial print run of 900 copies and decided not to reprint it.[15] He subsequently found a bigger publishing house, and with the publication of his next book Brida, The Alchemist took off. HarperCollins decided to publish the book in 1994. Later it became an international bestseller.[15] In a 2009 interview with the Syrian Forward Magazine, Coelho stated that the Sufi tradition had been an influence on him, particularly when writing The Alchemist and later The Zahir.[16]

Since the publication of The Alchemist, Coelho has generally written at least one novel every two years. Four of them – The Pilgrimage, Hippie, The Valkyries and Aleph – are autobiographical, while the majority of the rest are broadly fictional.[6] Other books, like Maktub, The Manual of the Warrior of Light and Like the Flowing River, are collections of essays, newspaper columns, or selected teachings. His work has been published in more than 170 countries and translated into eighty-three languages. Together, his books have sold 320 million copies.[17] On 22 December 2016, Coelho was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 2 in the list of 200 most influential contemporary authors.[18]

Reception

Reactions to his writing have not been without dissension. Though he was raised in a Catholic family and describes himself as of that faith even now, his stance has been described as incompatible with the Catholic faith, because of its New Age, pantheist and relativist contents.[19] And whatever his sales, reviews of Coelho's later work consistently note its superficiality.[20] [21] [22]

In 2016, he was contacted by basketball player Kobe Bryant, who wanted to discuss a children's book project with him. Some months before Bryant's death in a helicopter crash in January 2020, they started to write the book together, but upon hearing about his death, Coelho deleted the draft, saying in an interview that "it didn't make any sense to publish without him." He did not say how many pages had been written or whether the book had a title.[23] [24]

Film

The Pilgrim – Story of Paulo Coelho is the international title for the biographical film Não Pare na Pista, a co-production between Brazil’s Drama Films and the Spanish Babel Films, in which the younger and older Coelho are played by two different actors. One of the producers, Iôna de Macêdo, told Screen International: "The film tells the story of a man who has a dream. It's a little like Alice in Wonderland – he's someone who is too big for his house." The film, shot in Portuguese, had its premiere in Brazilian theatres in 2014 and was internationally distributed in 2015.[25]

Personal life

Coelho married artist Christina Oiticica in 1980. Together they had previously spent half the year in Rio de Janeiro and the other half in a French country house in the Pyrenees, but now the couple resides permanently in Geneva, Switzerland.[26]

Bibliography

YearPortuguese titleEnglish title
1974Teatro da EducaçãoTheater For Education
1982Arquivos do InfernoHell Archives
1987O Diário de um MagoThe Pilgrimage
1988O AlquimistaThe Alchemist
1990BridaBrida
1991O Dom SupremoThe Supreme Gift
1992As ValkíriasThe Valkyries
1994MaktubMaktub
Na Margem do Rio Piedra eu Sentei e ChoreiBy the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
1996O Monte CincoThe Fifth Mountain
1997Cartas de Amor de um ProfetaLove Letters from a Prophet
Manual do Guerreiro da LuzManual of the Warrior of Light
1998Veronika Decide MorrerVeronika Decides to Die
Palavras EssenciaisEssential Words
2000O Demônio e a Srta. PrymThe Devil and Miss Prym
2001Historias para Pais, Filhos e NetosFathers, Sons and Grandsons
2003Onze MinutosEleven Minutes
2004O Gênio e as RosasThe Genie and the Roses
ViagensJourneys
VidaLife
2005O ZahirThe Zahir
Caminhos RecolhidosRevived Paths
2006Ser Como o Rio que FluiLike the Flowing River
A Bruxa de PortobelloThe Witch of Portobello
2008O Vencedor Está SóThe Winner Stands Alone
2009AmorLove
2010AlephAleph
2011Fábulas
2012Manuscrito Encontrado em AccraManuscript Found in Accra
2014AdultérioAdultery
2016A EspiãThe Spy
2018HippieHippie
2020O Caminho do ArcoThe Archer

Notes and References

  1. J C Wells (2008) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Pearson Education Limited.
  2. Web site: Paulo Coelho – Biografia. Academia Brasileira de Letras. 4 November 2014 .
  3. Schaertl, Markia The Boy from Ipanema: Interview with Paulo Coelho reposted on Paulo Coelho's Blog. 20 December 2007.
  4. Doland, Angela Brazilian author Coelho thrives on contradictions and extremes Oakland Tribune published on The Washington Post. 12 May 2007.
  5. Day, Elizabeth A mystery even to himself The Daily Telegraph. 14 June 2005.
  6. http://www.lifepositive.com/spirit/traditional-paths/sorcery/coelho.asp An interview with Brazilian writer, Paulo Coelho: Everybody is a Magus
  7. https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/07/070507fa_fact_goodyear Life and Letters: The Magus
  8. http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/engl/bio.shtml Biography
  9. Web site: Cópia Infiel: Ato 1, Raul Seixas e o Dolo de Ouro. 2020-10-09. whiplash.net. pt-br.
  10. News: I was tortured by Brazil's dictatorship. Is that what Bolsonaro wants to celebrate?. The Washington Post . . The Washington Post . March 29, 2019 . March 30, 2019.
  11. Web site: 28/5/1974 . Paulo . Coelho . March 30, 2019 . March 30, 2019.
  12. http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/ommoverride/teacher_guide_alchemist.pdf Teacher's Guide to The Alchemist
  13. Reiss, Valerie Paulo Coelho Dances with Angels Beliefnet.
  14. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml Interview with Paulo Coelho
  15. http://www.santjordi-asociados.com/titles/brief.htm?6#alchemist A Brief History of the Book
  16. Web site: Forward Magazine. 23 August 2020. Fwmagazine. 12 April 2009 .
  17. Karen Heller, Meet the writers who still sell millions of books. Actually, hundreds of millions, The Washington Post
  18. Web site: Authors Top 200: From J.K. Rowling to T. Harv Eker, These Are the Most Influential Authors in the World. Richtopia. 21 January 2017.
  19. Web site: Paulo Coelho: ¿alguna objeción desde la fe cristiana? . Santamaría . Luis . . 23 July 2014 . 22 May 2017 . es . Paulo Coelho: any objection from the Christian faith?.
  20. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jun/19/fiction.paulocoelho "Adam Mars-Jones finds Paulo Coelho hurtling towards stupidity as he reaches for wisdom in The Zahir"
  21. Rebecca K. Morrison, "New novels fails to stimulate", The Independent, 14 September 2014
  22. Cameron Woodhead, "Paulo Coelho's fictional take on Mata Hari misses the mark", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2017
  23. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/author-kobe-bryant-childrens-book-deletes-unfinished-draft-1273943 Co-Author of Kobe Bryant Children's Book Deletes Unfinished Draft
  24. News: Author deletes children's book co-written with Kobe Bryant . January 28, 2020 . Associated Press . January 27, 2020.
  25. News: Picture Tree Acquires Paulo Coelho Biopic 'The Pilgrim'. 5 August 2014. PMC. 15.
  26. Web site: Interview with Paulo Coelho. Cultura. Brasileira. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160612083758/http://agogo.nl/homenews/articles/item/paulo-coelho-i-m-not-going-to-the-world-cup. 12 June 2016. mdy-all.