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Paulo Coelho “Eleven Minutes”

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студентка 2 курсу МП

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Костікова Олена

Київ 2009

Paulo Coelho

Brazilian lyricist and novelist.

Biography

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father, Pedro, was an engineer, and his mother Lydia was a home-maker. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?" After researching, Coelho concluded that a writer "always wears glasses and never combs his hair" and has a "duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation," amongst other things. At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to follow a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. Coelho later remarked that "It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me.

At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and left his dream to become a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and becoming immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s.^[5][6] Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas,composing with Raul made Paulo being associated with satanism and occultism, due to the content of some songs. In 1974, Coelho was arrested and tortured for "subversive" activities by the ruling military government, who took power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.

In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life.^[5][8] On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage . In an interview, Coelho stated "[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water -- to use the metaphor in The Alchemist , I was working, I had a person who I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer." Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.

In 1982 Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives , which failed to make any kind of impact. In 1985 he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism , although he later tried to take it off the shelves since he considered it “of bad quality." After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage . The following year, Coelho wrote The Alchemist and published it through a small Brazilian publishing house who made an initial print run of 900 copies and decided not to reprint. He subsequently found a bigger publishing house, and with the publication of his next book Brida , The Alchemist became a Brazilian bestseller. The Alchemist has gone on to sell more than 65 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books in history, and has been translated into more than 67 languages, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.

Since the publication of The Alchemist , Coelho has generally written one novel every two years including By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept , The Fifth Mountain , Veronika Decides to Die , The Devil and Miss Prym , Eleven Minutes , Like the Flowing River , The Valkyries and The Witch of Portobello . He has stated that he only starts writing a book after finding a white feather in the month of January of every odd year. This dates back to The Pilgrimage ; while trying to overcome procrastinating launching his writing career, Coelho said "If I see a white feather today, that is a sign that God is giving me that I have to write a new book." Coelho found a white feather in the window of a shop, and began writing that day.

In total, Coelho has published 26 books. Two of them -- The Pilgrimage and The Valkyries -- are autobiographical, while the majority of the rest are fictional, although rooted in his life experiences. Others, like Maktub and The Manual of the Warrior of Light , are collections of essays, newspaper columns, or selected teachings. In total, Coelho has sold more than 100 million books in over 150 countries worldwide, and his works have been translated into 67 languages. He is the all-time bestselling Portuguese language author.

Paulo Coelho is a strong advocate of spreading his books through peer-to-peer file sharing networks. A fan posted a Russian translation of one of his novels online. Sales of his book jumped from 3,000 to one million in three years, with no additional promotion or publicity from his publishers. Coelho took to pirating his own books on Pirate Coelho which provides free translations of many of his books He was caught by the head of HarperCollins, Jane Friedman, who noticed that one of the unauthorized versions Coelho linked to had notes from his own manuscript. The two reached a compromise: each month a new novel can be read for free on the publisher's website. Due to the openness regarding his content, author Jeff Jarvis named Coelho 'the Googliest author' in his book What Would Google Do .^[22]

Coelho and his wife of 26 years, Christina Oiticica, split time living in Europe and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was raised Catholic and although he attends mass, he disagrees with the Pope on several issues, both political and social.

In 1996, Coelho founded the Paulo Coelho Institute, which provides aid to children and elderly people with financial problems. In September 2007, Coelho was named a Messenger of Peace to the United Nations.

• Member of the Board of the Shimon Peres Center for Peace
• UNESCO special counsellor for “Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences”
• Board Member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
• Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
• Member of INI International Advisory Council - HARVARD INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION INITIATIVE
• Member of the Board, Doha Center of Media Freedom
• Advisory Board Member, Maybach Foundation

Биография

Родился в Рио-де-Жанейро в благополучной семье инженера Педро и Лижии Коэльо. В семь лет он был отправлен в иезуитскую школу Святого Игнатия Лойолы, где впервые проявляется его желание писать книги. Желание стать писателем не нашло понимания у его семьи, поэтому под их давлением он поступает на юридический факультет университета Рио-де-Жанейро, но вскоре бросает учёбу и больше занимается журналистикой. В итоге разногласия между ним и семьёй шли по нарастающей, в конце концов семнадцатилетний Пауло был принудительно помещён в частную психиатрическую клинику для курса лечения. Ни лечение электрошоком, ни второй курс лечения не изменили его уверенности в себе — и тогда он сбежал из клиники, скитался некоторое время, в итоге вернулся домой. Через год он примкнул к движению любительского театра, который в Бразилии 60-х годов стал массовым явлением — не только явлением искусства, но и социального протеста. Театрально-протестная активность для Коэльо закончилась в лечебнице, откуда он снова сбежал, но безденежье вынудило его вновь вернуться домой. В итоге после третьего курса лечения его семья смирилась с тем, что «нормальной» работой он заниматься не будет. Пауло Коэльо продолжал заниматься театром и журналистикой.

В 1970 начал путешествовать по Мексике, Перу, Боливии, Чили, Европе и Северной Африке. Через два года Коэльо вернулся в Бразилию и начал сочинять стихи для песен, ставших потом очень популярными, работая с известными бразильскими исполнителями, такими как Рауль Сейшас. Как он признаётся в одном из интервью, в это время он познакомился с работами противоречивого английского мистика, Алистера Кроули, повлиявшими на их сотрудничество. Оно распространилось не только на музыку, но и на планы создания «Альтернативного общества», которое должно было стать общиной анархистов в штате Минас-Жерайс, основанной на идее Кроули: «Делай что хочешь — таков весь закон». Бразильские военные, пришедшие к власти в результате переворота 1964 года, посчитали этот проект подрывной деятельностью и заключили всех предполагаемых членов группы под стражу. Известно также, что во время пребывания в тюрьме Коэльо и Сейшаса пытали. Выйти из тюрьмы Коэльо неожиданно помогло прошлое: его признали невменяемым и отпустили.

После событий, описанных в «Валькириях», Коэльо покинул Общество.

Позднее, в Голландии, он встречает личность (называемую им «Джи» (лат. J) в «Валькириях», «Паломничестве» и на его сайте «Воин Света»), которая изменила его жизнь и посвятила в христианство. Он стал членом католической группы, известной как RAM (Regnus Agnus Mundi), где «Джи» был его «Учителем». В 1986 году он прошёл Дорогой Сантьяго, старинным испанским путём паломников, и описал позднее всё произошедшее в книге «Дневник Мага».

Сейчас он живёт со своей женой, Кристиной, в Рио-де-Жанейро, в Бразилии, и в Тарбе, во Франции.

[править] Работы

В 150 странах мира было продано более 86 миллионов книг Пауло Коэльо, переведённых на 56 языков. Он получил множество литературных премий в разных странах, включая Францию (La Legion d’Honneur) и Италию (Grinzane Cavour). Список его новелл включает «Алхимика», основанного на «Истории о двух мечтателях» Борхеса, и проданного общим тиражом более 11 миллионов экземпляров, переведённых на 41 язык мира, положившего начало фильму, снимаемому Лоуренсом Фишбурном, поклонником Коэльо. Кроме того, им написано «Паломничество» (лёгшее в основу компьютерной игры, разработанной компанией Arxel Tribe), «У реки Рио-Пьедра села я и заплакала…» и «Валькирии». Его новелла «Заир», изданная в 2005 году, была запрещена в Иране с конфискацией 1000 копий, впоследствии всё-таки допущенных к печати.

Его произведения входили в список самых продаваемых книг не только в Бразилии, но и в Великобритании, США, Франции, Германии, Канаде, Италии, Израиле, Финляндии и Греции. «Алхимик» до сих пор остаётся самой продаваемой книгой в истории Бразилии и упомянут в Книге рекордов Гиннесса. Коэльо является автором самых продаваемых книг на португальском языке.

[править] Критика, производные работы

Несмотря на весь этот успех, многие бразильские критики всё ещё считают его незначительным писателем, чьи работы слишком просты и напоминают книги из серии «помоги себе сам». Некоторые из них также называют его работы «коммерческими» и ориентированными на рынок. Его избрание в Литературную академию Бразилии оспаривается многими бразильцами. Известная российская телеведущая и сценарист Авдотья Смирнова сказала о нём следующее^[1] :

Стилизации в духе Коэльо присутствуют в книгах Анхеля де Куатьэ.

"Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer...”

"On 29th May 2002, just hours before I put the finishing touches to this book, I visited the Grotto in Lourdes, in France, to fill up a few bottles with miraculous water from the spring. Inside the Basilica, a gentleman in his seventies said to me: 'You know, you look like Paulo Coelho.' I said that I was Paulo Coelho. The man embraced me and introduced me to his wife and grand-daughter. He spoke of the importance of my books in his life, concluding: 'They make me dream.'"

“11 minutes” - is not the first book by Paolo Coelho which I have red. I enjoyed reading it a lot.I found the characters so realistic and intriguing. Although the beginning to middle was pretty fascinating and passionate, I still felt that the ending was too forced and quick. Overall, it was still an enjoyable read and something different.

Those are the words from Paulo Coelho in the preface of 'Eleven Minutes', the life-enhancing book that have cause great impact to millions of readers.

'Eleven Minutes' tells a story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heart-broken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that 'love is a terrible thing that make you suffer...'

That set the stage of her journey to discover love, fame and fortune which leads her into the world of prostitution. Maria drifts further and further away from love while at the same time developing a fascination with sex.

Eventually, Maria meets a handsome young painter and she has to consider which way she wants her life to be, that is, either to continue to pursue a path of darkness and sexual pleasures, or to risk everything to find her own inner self and the possibility of sex in the context of love.

In this novel, Paulo Coelho explores the sacred nature of sex and love and prejudices.

'Eleven Minutes', was no.1 in the 2003 annual list of Publishing Trends, which every year establishes which fiction works sell more copies worldwide.

Maria and Ralf, a promising new love interest in her life (pages 132-135) have spent time in intimate conversation. Her new love interest observes: "Although we didn't take our clothes off . . . or even touch you, we've made love." He then suggests he come to see her tomorrow. Maria replies: . . . "Wait a week. I've learned that waiting is the most difficult bit, and I want to get used to the feeling, knowing that you're with me, even when you're not by my side."

As she walked away back to her house, the magic generated during their evening was with her, adding new color and texture to her world. Then it faded and she caught a cab the rest of the way home. That night she wrote in her diary:

Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be close to someone. From that point onwards, things change, the man and the woman come into play, but what happens before - the attraction that brought them together - is impossible to explain. It is untouched desire in its purest state.

When desire is still in this pure state, the man and the woman fall in love with life, they live each moment reverently, consciously, always ready to celebrate the next blessing.

When people feel like this, they are not in a hurry, they do not precipitate events with unthinking actions. They know that the inevitable will happen, that what is real always finds a way of revealing itself. When the moment comes, they do not hesitate, they do not miss an opportunity, they do not let slip a single magic moment, because they respect the importance of each second.

http://www.thoughtsandplaces.org/Morein2004/Paulo%20Coelho%2011.htm

From The Washington Post about the novel “11 minutes” by Paulo Coelho

“Sacred sex. A paradoxical, utopian impossibility or a life- sustaining, attainable goal? This is the major question that underpins Paulo Coelho's new novel, Eleven Minutes, the tale of Maria, a naive young woman from Brazil who becomes a high-class prostitute in Switzerland. (The title of the book refers to the hypothetical average duration for an act of coitus.) And while Coelho comes down firmly in the end for the reality of a holy carnality, the path he takes to that affirmation acknowledges completely the snares and labyrinths awaiting any explorer of the fusion of body and soul.

The novel opens with a rather striking sentence: "Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria." Unfortunately, Coelho then feels the immediate need to break the fourth wall and address the reader about the propriety of yoking fairy-tale beginnings with the subject matter of profane love. One braces oneself for a continually intrusive authorial presence, consonant with Coelho's extra-literary reputation as a guru and New Age spokesperson, in the grand manner of Khalil Gibran. Much to Coelho's credit, however, this initial intrusion is anomalous. The rest of the narrative embeds itself firmly in Maria's perceptions and experiences, her emotions, dreams and struggles to understand life. By the end of the book, she fully owns her story, Coelho's talent and restraint having elevated her from the status of mere mouthpiece and symbol to that of uniquely individuated life force.

We meet Maria when she is still a young girl living in Brazil's unsophisticated interior. Maria's girlhood experiments with romance convince her that love is a delusion, or at least it is not for her. Attaining her majority, she becomes a shopgirl with limited prospects. But a vacation to Rio brings her into contact with a Swiss tourist looking to hire dancers for his club in Geneva. Here Coelho is delightfully ambiguous, letting us believe that Roger, the Swiss, may be a white slaver. But, no, he really does run a dance club, and Maria is soon hoofing it in Geneva. But after falling out with Roger, she drifts on her own initiative into life as a bar-girl. Quickly adapting to the coarse but not uninteresting role of prostitute, she endures nearly a year of service, until she has accumulated enough money to return to Brazil in style. At that point she meets a young artist, Ralf Hart, and begins to fall in love, disturbing her hard-won equilibrium and raising the issue of whether the two halves of her nature can be satisfied by any one man.

Coelho's prose -- at least in the fluid English translation by Margaret Jull Costa -- is limpid and unadorned, as easy to assimilate as water. (Of course, sometimes one wants wine instead, and Coelho's prose will not deliver such a kick.) This unornate language stands Coelho in good stead during the scenes of actual sex, of which there are surprisingly few, compared to the scenes of Maria thinking about sex and its mysteries. These explicit passages, especially the long-denied consummation between Ralf and Maria, are gratifyingly erotic and will not be earning Coelho any nominations for the Guardian's Bad Sex writing awards.

Coelho has spoken in interviews about producing manuscripts that are several times longer than the work ultimately published, and then stripping away everything viewed as extraneous. This practice results in books that read more as allegories than grittily mimetic renderings of life. (Contrast this book with William Vollman's similarly themed The Royal Family.) None of the characters other than Maria and, to some extent, Ralf (who, in light of his parallel worldly successes and troubles with wives, may be an avatar of Coelho himself), is any deeper than his functionality demands. For instance, Maria's best friend in Geneva is a female librarian known as "the librarian." Her main role is to deliver a lecture on clitoral orgasms. Likewise, Coelho sketches in the settings just enough to serve as backdrops to Maria's quest.

It can easily be argued that Coelho's first smash hit, The Alchemist (1993), set the template for Maria's story. The shepherd in that earlier novel is bent on living out his "Personal Legend" through a voyage of self-exploration, as is Maria. Both decry the failure to dream and the impossibility of living the dreams of others. The two characters even buck themselves up in near-identical terms. The shepherd: "He had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in search of his treasure." Maria: "I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure." Why, it turns out that Maria has even read a copy of what can only be The Alchemist! But while The Alchemist was almost asexual in its romance, this novel revels in the physicality of love and thus serves to complement the earlier book.

At times Maria's sacrifices on the altar of sex almost resemble the excruciations of the heroine of Lars von Trier's film "Breaking the Waves." But Coelho's basically optimistic and life-affirming temperament and his sense of humor (Maria's reaction to the librarian's sexually empowering lecture amounts to wishing the woman would just shut up) redeem the book from any such Nordic angst. By the time the fairy tale ending arrives, we feel that Maria has earned her rewards. And, per Coelho's mission, we are inspired to feel that so might we. “

Reviewed by Paul Di Filippo

“Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally come to realize that nothing really belongs to them.”

“It is not time that changes man, nor knowledge; the only thing that can change someone's mind is love.”

“ I'm not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called body.”

“But if I don't think about love, I will be nothing.”

“Humans can withstand a week without water, two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, but not loneliness. It is the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings.”

“ All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement… Freedom only exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves the most.”

“ In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.”

“No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.”