Paulo Coelho’s Blog

25 Responses to “The Englishman”

• Marta Adriana

  October 8, 2009 at 5:41 pm

  Quite conceited and lost in the theory.
  He cannot understand life through simplicity.
  However , he is an interesting person who finally decides to change theory for practice, understanding that no knowledge is useful if it is not applied.
  It’s difficult for him to learn by intuition, so he learns through reason.
  He manifests love through enthusiasm and swaps certain degree of comfort for the ocean of uncertainty.

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• Heart

  July 7, 2009 at 3:35 pm

  There isn’t any clear villain in The Alch, but the Englishman is a perfect protagonist. Where Santiago goes ahead and believes his dream, listens to the signs, and gets to meet a real Alchemist, the Englishman is a skeptic. I imagine he grew up learning about King Arthur and the Sword in the stone, and wizard Merlin. Wizard Merlin turned lead into gold, didn’t he? Here is the story;
  http://rickwalton.com/folktale/bryant75.htm
  The Wizard Merlin was an alchemist who helped King Arthur to get the sword out of the stone. Probably the Englishman read this story sometimes when he was an adolescence, but say to himself, this is just a legend. Some people claim they can turn base metal into gold, but it is like turning water into wine. It is not possible. If it were, you would think there would be a lot more wine and gold around. The Alchemy is all about making money on offering chemicals that can cause this process, or receipts with the right amount of lead and how to cook it, so on. The Englishman knows in himself, there is no short cut to get gold. Gold has to be mined from rocks, or panned out from river sand. These Alchemists are waked, but just in case there is some truth to it, the Englishman takes off on his journey to Egypt to see for himself. As the great protagonist, he is a man without faith. I was wondering if fascination for Aleister Crowley had anything to do with choosing an Englishman, and not a Portuguese or German or any other nationality?

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• Dances With Crayons

  July 5, 2009 at 3:19 am

  The Englishman served as a reminder to me, that knowledge for it’s own sake has it’s place, (like when needing information, like a map on the internet) but my own journey has to do with hands-on, whole-heart-in, living and sharing of the adventure. Not that the Englishman’s way of life was ‘wrong’. Thank You Paulo, Love to All : )

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• Nancy

  July 4, 2009 at 2:52 am

  I found the Englishman interesting at the time I read The Alchemist. He was in search of unknown knowledge, the mystical, adventure. I thought the story between Santiago and the Englishman would make the longest part of the story and was surprised when it suddenly ended. Now I know the Englishman could depict a person only wanting to know about Alchemy for academic reasons, and a sense of superiority.

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• Biombo

  July 2, 2009 at 11:11 pm

  It is interesting that The Englishman has no name and yet how important he is in the development of the story. My thoughts are maybe that Paulo intended him to be a little vague and mysterious for reasons that he was maybe just an instrument of the quest and not necessarily a figure that could change the quest. Having been such a mysterious figure, I’d like so ask everyone what books you think he carried with him on the caravan? Here’s my picks:
  -1,001 nights (Arabian Nights)
  -Tons of maps and history books
  -The Divine Comedy
  -and maybe his own book in the works

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  Paulo Coelho Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm

  Dear Biombo,

  great idea! I would add “Atalanta Fugiens”.

  Much love
  Paulo

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  Savita Vega Reply:
  July 13th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

  Atlanta Fugiens - very interesting. For anyone else who, like myself, is curious, here is a link:

  http://www.levity.com/alchemy/atalanta.html

  Yes, I’ve seen images from this work in a small but beautifully illustrated book, called “Alchemy & Mysticism” by Alexander Roob. One could get lost in these illustrations…or found!!!

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  Marie-Christine Reply:
  August 9th, 2009 at 11:03 am

  This makes for an incredible reading. Thanks Savita, I had never heard of “Atlanta Fugiens”(another one amongst many others)until Paulo mentioned it.

  and there is so much information I have only read Emlems 1-5 so far.
  :)
  Marie-Christine

  

  Heart Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm

  First, I thought he was reading Alchemist books, but Biombo, you make me think! Perhaps he even brought Shakespeare, just to have a secure base during his adventurous search in the unknown.

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  Melyssab79 Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 pm

  I agree…perhaps the Englishman carried Shakespeare’s The Tempest in his trunk of texts…Prospero was fond of magic, too. :)

  ~Melyssa

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  Annie Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 pm

  I ‘d add
  -Homer’s Odyssey
  -Paradise Lost, Milton

  Love and Graditude
  Annie

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  Barcelona_20_euros_en_un_café Reply:
  July 6th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

  And maybe The Gulliver travels?

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  Catherine Reply:
  July 7th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

  I forget his age…

  so maybe Birds of the Middle East and Africa

  or
  Lawrence of Arabia!

  LOL.
  ;o)

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  Savita Vega Reply:
  July 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

  I thought he was probably reading all of those big, thick books with names that I can hardly pronounce - such as Mutus Liber, Rosarium Philosophorum, Utriusque Cosmi…, etc. - especially the ones with all of the amazing and yet wholly baffling illustrations. I thought of the immensity of some of those books, their sheer size (no eight-and-a-half by eleven like today), the number of volumes they often comprised…and I thought, much like Santiago: “Oh, poor camel!”

  Also I think that if the Englishman had had the good fortune to be reading something like “The Alchemist” instead, he would have had it all figured out by now. The way to truth is simple. It is we humans that make the quest seem so complicated.

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• Catherine

  July 2, 2009 at 1:37 pm

  I wonder, as with The Witch of Portebello {UK}, what was the reason for creating an English-man ?

  ;o)

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  Paulo Coelho Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm

  Dear Catherine,

  no - because I wrote The Alchemist 20 years eariler.
  Much love
  Paulo

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  Catherine Reply:
  July 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

  Sorry - my English let me down…
  I wonder what reasons there were for, now two, books to have had English characters…
  Have you lived in the UK at any time Paulo?

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  Paulo Coelho Reply:
  July 5th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

  I did, but he could be a French or German or an nationality. Which other book of mine has a Engishman? Many have Spanish characters (I also lived in Spain) but this is not what makes me choose the nationality.

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  Catherine Reply:
  July 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

  It was intriguing to see a book with the English town [Portebello] mentioned in the title.

  I had forgotten that there had been an Englishman in the Alchemist until re-reading this workshop blog.

  I wondered - as an English person [well, Scottish also], what had been your personal experience of England and how it made such an impression, as to figure in two books.

  Thankyou.
  I feel I communicated that one finally!!
  I think writing is a challenge of clear transmission of thought… like saying a prayer no… or channelling reiki energy!!

  Best wishes ;o)
  Catherine

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• Carolena Sabah

  July 2, 2009 at 10:21 am

  When I picture the Englishman, in my mind, I see him physically looking similar and resembling Petrus from The Pilgrimage. Anyone else think so??

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• Sheela nandini

  July 2, 2009 at 9:00 am

  When I reread the Alchemist in 2007( borrowed the book from my neighbor)the character of the Englishman made me sigh -long and deep. He was a mirror to me- I wept too realising that I was the Englishman too- about books. Afraid to take the path of uncertainty, afraid to be hurt, afraid of finding what’s in store, afraid of goodness that always accrues when you seek the unknown, clinging to the familiar, the wordy, the complex,complicating things when they are really simple.
  The Educated,Literate One who relied more on what was on a page than on what was inscribed on one’s heart,and missing out on reading messages in the eyes of people who care.Afraid to let go of sameness. In a way he limited himself- lengthened the journey, the process of discovery, because of his temperament perhaps? And I thought The Alchemist was being very kind to him when he tells Santiago that the Englishman was right too, in his own way and allowed him to continue with his many experiments.That he would also arrive at the truth at the end of it.
  It’s about one’s readiness- one’s state of mind- for instruction, for initiation.How quick you are on the uptake and do you trust the Master implicitly to lead you on the path that is most relevant/suitable to you. Even though it may mean getting robbed (and beaten up badly ) on the way and risking your life in the process.Santiago was ready for just about everything. He was willing to learn because he was simple, uncluttered in his mind, not burdened by the written word, close to nature and sheep and that’s why he met who he did. God always protects the Innocent as you say in Brida.Santiago was Innocent.

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  Elaine Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 am

  Sheela,

  You are spot on in what you say. The Englishman is all around us in many people — even ourselves. Paulo is a master by SHOWING us and NOT BEING DIDACTIC and preaching to us. Parable, one of the best ways to teach a pupil :-) and write a classic!

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  Sheela Nandini Reply:
  July 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm

  Thanks Elaine, funny how these characters stay with you inspite of having read the Alchemist first in 1997 and again in 2007!
  I read it this afternoon and loved Paulo all the more..all over again for writing it.

  He was irritated with the boy for ’simplifying things’and just didn’t want to unlearn.But it’s also good that he found the Alchemist and got to do it the way the books had told him.Trying to separate the sulphur…seems he was carrying the lab with him,still living in the University, although he was in the presence of The Alchemist and in a desert that was steadily revealing her secrets.

  Love,
  sheela

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• Angela M.C. D'Alton

  July 1, 2009 at 6:37 pm

  I wasnt quite sure about this guy. At first I didnt quite trust him. He seemed to be more set in his own views even though he wanted to know what Santiago thought of his books. I think he showed a characteristic of someone who is on his own path and isnt really open to big changes.

  with love

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• Alexandra

  July 1, 2009 at 2:00 pm

  I wish to know why you used a generic name for that character. In my opinion, is one that reminds you, that is one side of your nature…Am I right?
  Was so lovely seeing that while he was there to meet an Alchemist, he himself become the Alchemist.

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