Today’s Question by the reader : Chesney
In the “About the Author” of The Alchemist, you say that a strange man encouraged you to walk the Road of Santiago de Compostela. Is the Road of Santiago de Compostela the same road that Santiago walks in The Alchemist?
Chesney, yes and no.
The road to Santiago is a pilgrimage that exists in the North of Spain whilst Santiago’s road to the Pyramids passes through the Sahara.
Yet, both paths can be seen as the same since they transform the person doing them. They are both an initiation.
When I wrote the Alchemist, a year later of writing about my pilgrimage to Santiago, I felt the need to tell my story through a metaphor. It’s no wonder then that the idea of a journey caught my imagination.
I’m first and foremost a pilgrim writer.
