The Alchemist (Portuguese: O Alquimista) is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in the year

1988. Originally written in Portuguese by its Brazilian-born author, it has been translated into at
least 67 languages as of October 2009.[1] An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young
Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of
finding treasure there.
The book is an international bestseller. According to AFP, it has sold more than 65 million copies
in 56 different languages, becoming one of the best-selling books in history and setting the
Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.[2]

Plot
The Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. Believing a
recurring dream to be prophetic, Santiago decides to travel to a Romani fortune-teller in a nearby
town to discover its meaning. A gypsy woman tells him that there is a treasure in the Pyramids in
Egypt.
Early into his journey, he meets an old king, Melchizedek, who tells him to sell his sheep to
travel to Egypt and introduces the idea of a Personal Legend (which is always capitalized in the
book). Your Personal Legend "is what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when
they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is".[3] He adds that "when you want
something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it". This is the core theme of the
book.

Along the way, Santiago meets an Englishman and continues his travel with him. They travel
through the Sahara desert and during his journey, Santiago meets and falls in love with a
beautiful Arabian woman named Fatima. He asks Fatima to marry him, but she says she will only
marry him after he finds his treasures. He is perplexed by this, but later learns that true love will
not stop one's Personal Legend, and if it does, it is not true love.
Santiago then encounters a lone alchemist who also teaches him about Personal Legends. He
says that people want to find only the treasure of their Personal Legends but not the Personal
Legend itself. Santiago feels unsure about himself as he listens to the alchemist's teachings. The
alchemist states, "Those who don't understand their Personal Legends will fail to comprehend its
teachings". It is also stated that treasure is more worthy than gold.
Theme

The book's main theme is about finding one's destiny. According to The New York Times, The
Alchemist is "more self-help than literature".[1] An old king tells Santiago, "when you really want
something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the
core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that plays all throughout Coelho's writing in The
Alchemist.[7]

Publication

The Alchemist was first released by an obscure Brazilian publishing house. Albeit having sold
"well", the publisher of the book told Coelho that it was never going to sell, and that "he could
make more money in the stock exchange".[8]
Needing to "heal" himself from this setback, Coelho set out to leave Rio de Janeiro with his wife
and spent 40 days in the Mojave Desert. Returning from the excursion, Coelho decided he had to
keep on struggling.[8] Coelho was "so convinced it was a great book that [he] started knocking on
doors".[4]

Translations
The Alchemist has been translated into 67 distinct different languages according to The New York
Times. This gave Coelho the position as the world's most translated living author, according to
the 2009 Guinness World Records.
Cultural influence

Film adaptations

Coelho said he has been reluctant in selling rights to his books. He believed that a book has a
"life of its own inside the reader's mind", and seldom did he find an adaptation that lived up to
the book. Despite this, with time, Coelho decided to open up the possibility.[8]
In 2003, Warner Bros. bought the rights to the film adaptation of The Alchemist. The project
stalled and the movie never materialized, reportedly because of problems with the script.[24] At
one point, the script had a battle sequence with 10,000 soldiers, which was "not what the book is
about".[25] Reportedly, Coelho offered US$2 million to Warner Bros. to buy back the film rights
to The Alchemist.[26]
During the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein announced that he had bought the
rights to the film and will serve as its producer. Laurence Fishburne is set to direct, and to play
the eponymous character. It will have a reported budget of $60 million. Weinstein, who rarely
personally produces movies, stated that "My loyalty is not to Laurence [Fishburne], my loyalty is
not to me, my loyalty is not to anyone other than Paulo Coelho."[27] Coelho added, "I am very
happy that my book will be filmed in the way I intended it to be and I hope the spirit and
simplicity of my work will be preserved. I am excited my friend Laurence Fishburne and Harvey
Weinstein will be working together."[15] In June 2015, it was reported that Idris Elba was set to
play the protagonist and that Fishburne would direct the movie instead.[28]