The alchemy of literature : orientalist perspectives in coelho's the alchemist

Abstract EN

Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist presumes to take on the challenging role of increasing man's knowledge of the world through the spiritual transformation of individual consciousness and discovery of the self, in as much the same way as 'alchemy' proposes to transform matter from one state to another.

Though this book partly achieves this goal by teaching important lessons about the self, its message is very much undermined by the writer's inability to break free from old perceptions and stereotypes of non-western characters.

In propagating this negative image of the Eastern world, Coelho's book becomes yet another work of literature that engenders the dichotomy of East versus West, and 'self' versus other that many Orientalists believe is responsible for the many sensitivities and misunderstandings between the two worlds.

In applying Orientalist perspectives to Coelho's book, it becomes quite clear that his message of nonconformity and openness to the true language of the world become meaningless in light of his indiscriminate adherence to archetypical depictions of the East as the inferior 'other'.