Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho (IPA: [ˈpau̯lu ˈku̯eʎu], born August 24, 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.

Biography

Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he attended law school, but in 1970 abandoned his studies to travel throughout Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, as well as Europe and North Africa.

Two years later he returned to Brazil and began composing popular music lyrics, working with such popular musicians as Raul Seixas. As he confesses in an interview to Juan Arias, during that time he was introduced to the work of controversial English mystic Aleister Crowley, which influenced their collaboration. The influence extended not only to music, but also to plans for the creation of the "Alternative Society," which was to be an anarchist community in the state of Minas Gerais based on Crowley's premise: "'Do what thou wilt' shall be the whole of the Law." The project was considered subversive by members of the Brazilian military, which imprisoned all prospective members of the group. Seixas and Coelho are reported to have been tortured during their imprisonment.

After a supernatural experience, described in The Valkyries, Coelho left the society.

Later in Holland he met a person (whom he would refer to as "J" throughout The Valkyries, The Pilgrimage and his website "Warriors of Light online") who changed his life and Coelho was driven towards Christianity. He became a member of a Catholic group known as RAM (Regnus Agnus Mundi) with "J" as his "Master". In 1986 he walked along the Road of Santiago, an ancient Spanish pilgrimage and his book The Pilgrimage describes his final initiation.

He and his wife Christina live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in Tarbes, France.

His works

Coelho has sold over 86 million books in over 150 countries worldwide and his works have been translated into 56 languages. He has received numerous literary awards from a variety of countries, including La Legion d'Honneur (France), Grinzane Cavour (Italy), His other novels include The Alchemist, based on Borges' Tale of two dreamers, which sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 41 languages; it is also a movie in progress produced by Laurence Fishburne, who is a fan of Coelho. In addition he has written The Pilgrimage (which was the basis for a computer game, developed by the Arxel Tribe), By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, and The Valkyries. Despite the popularity of Coelho's works in Iran, his 2005 novel The Zahir was banned there, with 1,000 copies being confiscated [1], but a week later aforesaid book "The Zahir" appeared again in bookstores.

His books have appeared on bestseller lists in countries not only in Brazil, but in the UK, the USA, France, Germany, Iran, Canada, Italy, Israel, Finland, Greece, Romania and Lithuania. He is the all time best-selling Portuguese language author.

Coelho writes a weekly column for Akşam, a Turkish newspaper, and Freizeit, a weekly supplement published by the Austrian Kurier.

Critical acclaims and criticism

Although Coelho has achieved great international success, his work has not been unanimously appreciated at home; his election to the Brazilian Academy of Letters proved controversial. Seen by some Brazilian literary critics as a lesser author whose material is too simplistic and similar to that of self-help books, criticism of his work arises mostly from his plain, direct style and borrowing of ideas from other authors. Additionally, his works in Portuguese contain grammatical errors and inaccuracies; some of these have been minimized in translation or altered in later editions.

Some consider his books incompatible with mainstream Catholicism, due to their mixture of mysticism, spiritual exercises, meditation and supernatural experiences. Coelho in his website states that Catholicism is his personal way of enlightenment and knowing God, but also claims that religion has nothing to do with his spirituality; he considers that all religions are 'correct'. Despite spiritual themes, his works do not espouse any specific religion, apart from Catholic elements which figure in some plots.

Bibliography

Novels and Other Books

While the biography section of his website states that his first book was published in 1982, ^{[1] [2]} the website of the Official Fan Club Paulo Coelho lists two more books published in earlier years – The Manifest of Krig-há and Theater For Education (both published in 1974) ^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Sant Jordi Associados Literary Agency: Paulo Coelho's Titles. Retrieved on October 7, 2006.
2. ^ PauloCoelho.com: Biography. Retrieved on October 7, 2006.
3. ^ Official Fanclub Paulo Coelho: Books. Retrieved on October 7, 2006.

External links

• Paulo Coelho at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Site
• Warrior of the Light Online
• Paulo Coelho's Official Blog
• Official French fan Club Site
• Forum of the French Official Fan-Club
• Playlist Video Paulo Coelho
• Appearance on Desert Island Discs, BBC-Radio 4, 3rd July 2005
• Articles on openDemocracy
• Official Site in Persian
• Paulo Coelho's Iranian Publisher
• Libros, audiolibros de Paulo Coelho
• Reading guides and Paulo Coelho essay about Eleven Minutes (Official publisher web page)

Categories

Find

Find