Paulo Coelho became internationally famous with his allegorical novel The Alchemist (1988), one of the most successful and translated international bestsellers to date. In The Alchemist, the protagonist Santiago dreams of treasure and learns he must go to the pyramids of Giza to find his treasure and fulfill his “Personal Legend,” or life’s plan for him. After a long and arduous journey, wherein Santiago becomes attuned to the “Soul of the World,” he learns that the treasure was in fact back home where he started, in Andalusia.

Santiago is the archetypal Coelho protagonist—he is socio-economically stable and “successful” by society’s metrics, but deeply disaffected with life and seeking purpose. Coelho’s novels explore these protagonists in various states of crisis on their journey to improve themselves and find meaning, from Santiago’s quest to Veronika’s suicide attempt to Linda’s extramarital affair in Adultery (2014). The crisis of faith that unites Coelho’s protagonists and novels can lead readers to view his work as self-help fiction, as the protagonist’s journey typically contains generalized life advice while the novel’s themes reinforce this advice or add complexity. Coelho’s success with The Alchemist and his subsequent novels has solidified his position as one of the most easily recognized Brazilian authors worldwide.