Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Paulo Coelho
Born in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 1947
Always wanted to be a
writer
Worked at various
professions
Paulo Coelho
"I always knew, he says,
"that my Personal Legend,
to use a term from alchemy,
was to write.
He was 38 when he
published his first book.
Paulo Coelho
Dropped out of law
school in 1970
Traveled through much
of South America, North
Africa, Mexico, and
Europe.
Successful career as
popular songwriter.
Paulo Coelho
1974 imprisoned
short time by the
military dictatorship
then ruling in Brazil.
1980 walked the 500plus mile Road of
Santiago de
Compostela in
northwestern Spain.
Paulo Coelho
Coehlo achieved
a self-awareness
and spiritual
awakening that
he later
described in The
Pilgrimage.
Fable
Short narrative makes a
moral point
Traditionally by means of
animal characters who act
like human beings
Legend about supernatural
or mythical characters or
events
Allegory
A representation of an abstract or spiritual
meaning through concrete or material forms
What is
ALCHEMY?
The Alchemist
Personal Legend =
Destiny
Our job is to pursue
our personal legend
despite the many
distractions placed
in our path
Story continued
The Maiden, a goddess, found out about this, and she
was very angry. She made Narcissus fall in love with
himself. When Narcissus looked at his reflection in a
pond one day, he fell in love. He stayed on that spot
forever, until he died one day. Where he died a flower
grew, and that flower is called a Narcissus.