Review of Previous Related Research Findings
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experience of spirituality. Then, he worked in theatre and journalism again and successfully launched an alternative magazine called 2011. Besides, he
collaborated with music producer Raul Seixas as a lyricist. He joined an organization that defended the individual’s right to free expression, namely
Alternative Society. As a member of that organization, he published a series of comic strips about freedom.
His passion on writing predisposed him to keep on writing, but he didn’t start seriously until he had an encounter with a stranger. The stranger suggested
that Coelho should return to Catholicism, and encouraged him to take the pilgrim’s route in the Road of Santiago de Compostela. A year after completing
the pilgrimage, in 1987, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage; Diary of Magus. A year later, Coelho wrote The Alchemist Coelho, 1993: 195. Now, in his biography
cited in Paulo Coelho Blog, Paulo Coelho is a Messenger of Peace for the UN, Ambassador of European Union for Intercultural Dialogue for the year of 2008,
Member of the Board of the Shimon Peres Institute for Peace, UNESCO special counsellor for “Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences”, Board
Member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
Besides The Pilgrimage: Diary of Magus 1987 and The Alchemist 1988, his other works are Hell Archives 1982, Veronika Decides to Die
1998, Practical Manual of Vampirism 1985, Brida 1990, The Valkyries 1992, By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept 1994, the collection of his best
columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitled
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Maktub 1994, the compilation of texts Phrases 1995, The Fifth Mountain 1996, Manual of a Warrior of Light 1997, The Devil and Miss Prym 2000,
the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren 2001, Eleven Minutes 2003, The Zahir 2005, The Witch of
Portobello 2006 and a compilation of texts gathered under the title Like a Flowing River 2006. Those writings are published in a few countries for the
moment. The Alchemist itself cited in Guinness World Record becomes one of the
best-selling books in history. This prominent novel is translated into English by Alan R. Clarke in consultation with Paulo Coelho. This novel has been translated
into 73 languages and has sold more than 135 million copies in 168 countries. It has received several international awards such as the Nielsen Gold Book Award
2004 for its outstanding sales in the UK retail market, the Corine International Award 2002 for the best fiction in Germany, the Golden Book Award 1995 and
1996 in Yugoslavia, the Super Grinzane Cavour Book Award and Flaiano International Award 1996 in Italy, and the Grand Prix Litteraire of Elle 1995 in
France. According to the official website of BBC, this novel recorded as the 94th in the BBCs Big Read Top 100 in April 2003.
As the author of The Alchemist Paulo Coelho is fully appreciated. Many reviewers acclaim the novel on the website and novel’s cover. One of the reviews
is stated by Indiana Polis USA that The Alchemist is a touching, inspiring fable. Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize of Literature, states that Paulo Coelho knows the
secret of literary Alchemy.
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The Alchemist is one of Coelho’s works that presents the structure of
hero’s quest in its narrative, and which is much influenced by the author’ life journey. The structu
re of hero’s quest is portrayed through Santiago, the main character of The Alchemist who undertakes a quest to search for treasure. The
hero of the novel likewise Coelho, has met up with a stranger before he undertakes the journey. In addition, Santiago’s experiences in the novel represent
Coelho’s attempts in achieving his quest. The researcher, hereby, believes that a quest story like The Alchemist
not only represents its author’s life journey but also so many people’s journeys in their lives. Cited in the introduction of the
novel, some well-known figures like President Clinton and an artist Hollywood Julia Roberts have read it declaring that they adored the novel because of
Santiago’s journey represent human’s processes to achieve the goal. The novel tells the readers to do not give up on their dreams.
Santiago’s journey to comply the quest is an interesting subject of discussion
since it relates and exposes a universal model of hero’s quest structure or what is called the archetypes of hero’s journey. Therefore, Paulo Coelho’s The
Alchemist is worth to be researched.