The Alchemist: Paulo Coelho’s Fable of a Shepherd Who Follows His Dream
The book opens with an alchemist reading a variation on the Greek myth of Narcissus, the beautiful youth so enchanted by his own reflection in a lake that he falls in and drowns. In this version, the lake loves Narcissus because it could see its own reflection in his eyes. It is the first hint that The Alchemist (1988) will be a story about seeing the world, and ourselves, in a different way.
Author: Paulo Coelho (born 1947, Rio de Janeiro)
Title: The Alchemist (O Alquimista, 1988)
Format: English paperback (HarperCollins), 208 pages, translated by Alan R. Clarke
Scope: Philosophical fable about following one’s dreams
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0061122416 (ASIN 0061122416)
A Recurring Dream
A recurring dream troubles Santiago, a young and adventurous Andalusian shepherd. He has it every time he sleeps under a tree that grows in the ruins of a church. In the dream, a child tells him to look for treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. Santiago consults a gypsy woman to interpret the dream and, to his surprise, she tells him to go to Egypt. A strange old man called Melchizedek persuades Santiago to sell his flock and set off for Tangier.
From Tangier to the Oasis
When Santiago arrives in Tangier he is robbed by a thief and forced to look for work with a local crystal merchant. The kindly, conservative merchant teaches Santiago several lessons, and Santiago encourages him to take risks with his business. The risks pay off, and Santiago becomes a rich man in just a year. He decides to take his earnings and go on pursuing his original goal: finding treasure at the pyramids.
He joins a caravan crossing the Sahara towards Egypt and meets an Englishman who is studying to become an alchemist, and he learns a great deal from him. He hears that the secret of alchemy is written on a stone called the Emerald Tablet, and that alchemy’s supreme creation, the Master Work, consists of a solid called the Philosopher’s Stone, which can turn lead into gold, and a liquid called the Elixir of Life, which can cure all ills.
At the oasis of Al-Fayoum, Santiago falls in love with Fatima. During a walk in the desert he sees an omen of an attack on the oasis. He warns the tribal chieftains, and as a result Al-Fayoum successfully defends itself.
The Universe Conspires
The novel’s most quoted line comes from Melchizedek, the mysterious old king of Salem whom Santiago meets in Tarifa: when you really want something, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it. Melchizedek gives Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim, to help him read omens, and the book is full of such signs: a hawk’s flight, a desert wind, a chance meeting. Santiago also falls in love with Fatima, a woman of the oasis, and has to decide whether love means staying or going on.
From Failure to Phenomenon
Coelho, a former songwriter who had walked the Camino de Santiago in 1986 and written about it in The Pilgrimage, published The Alchemist in Brazil in 1988 with a small publisher, and it initially sold poorly. Only after he moved to a larger publisher did it take off, eventually becoming one of the most translated books by a living author. The story itself is old: a similar tale of a man who dreams of treasure far away, only to find it at home, appears in the Thousand and One Nights, and Jorge Luis Borges retold it as "The Tale of the Two Dreamers".
Listening to Your Heart
The alchemist hears about Santiago’s vision and invites him on a journey into the desert, during which he teaches Santiago the importance of listening to his heart and of pursuing his Personal Legend. The ending, which I will not spoil, brings the story full circle in a way that is both simple and surprising.
It is a short book that many readers return to at turning points in their lives. Some find it too simple; I think its simplicity is exactly the point.
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