PAULO COELHO

PAULO COELHO is not only one of the most widely read but also most influential writers in the world today.He have been honored with over a dozen international awards over the past several years. Why is it then that some critics opposed his election to the Academy or the selection of his works as some of the best examples of contemporary Brazilian literature? Some critics simply disparage Coelho’s narrative simplicity—a very powerful technique that he has continually mastered over the years. The Alchemist, for example, employs a fablelike language that has won the authorrecognition around the globe. He seldom uses complex alle-gories, metaphors, or idioms. All his work is simple, and, style captures not only the imagination but also the hearts of his readers. His message is also very simple and millennial: happiness lies in finding our-selves. Simply put, Paulo Coelho is an author in search of himself, a trait that epitomizes his literary truth. This Brazilian phenomenon, as he has come to be known,has been very consistent not only in his personal quest but also in becoming one of the most important writers of our time—perhaps to his own mother’s amazement, since she always discouraged him from taking up a profession that often offers very meager financial remuneration in countries like Brazil. It seems the more he writes, the more he earns the acclaim of important critics, like Umberto Eco, and of an ever-increasing number of readers around the world. To date, some 43 million copies of his books have been sold in 150 countries and in 56 languages, according to information found on hisWeb site. That places Coelho as the second most-read contem-porary author, based on a poll taken by the French magazine Lire in 1999. The body of his work consists of thirteen books (nine novels, three short-story collections, and two adapta-tions) Paulo Coelho’s coming of age as a writer is marked by his confirmation as the newest member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, despite all the controversy surrounding his nomina-tion. Glauco Ortolano Nobel Prize winner «e Kenzabur» once said that Paulo Coelho had discovered the secret of literary alche-my. There are younger writers interested in learning about these secrets. Paulo Coelho The average print run for a novel in the United States or France is about three thousand copies—the same as in Brazil. Literary criticism has neither the power to sell nor to impede the sale of books. The reader, on the other hand, observes reali-ty more closely and buys whatever reflects his or her state of mind or the status quo. Consequently, two factions have emerged: those who want to relive the past in the present (many academics are still tied to a series of old traditions) andthose who truly live in the present (the readers).