The Pursuit Of Dreams Essay Research Paper — страница 2

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about life and the way it should be for each of us. It is more of a fable and after you read it you realize that it is just a look into yourself at something you have known all along, but too many of us tend to forget. I was lucky enough for someone to share it with me, and after reading it I would recommend that everyone read this little fable about following your dreams. Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. San Francisco: Harper Flamingo, 1993. Hudson, Gail. "A Magical Little Volume." Rev. of The Alchemist. Kirkus Reviews 1 May 1993. Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992–not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it’s an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable–in other words, a bag

of wind. The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: “to realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.” So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches

him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, “Listen to your heart.” A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents’ worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver (“concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man”). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits–a far cry from Saint- Exup?ry’s The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility. Coelho’s placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.