The Fire Of Gods And The Stone Of Sages:Divinity And Love In The Bildungsroman Of Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is concerned with the theme of "growth",but not confined to the anxiety,pains,heaviness,and alienation of human "growth" expressed by other writers in the 20th century.Instead,he is committed to building a light,imaginative world with magical realism.To see the world from a Brazilian's viewpoint,and to self-reflect and make the necessary changes to maintain his own ethics on a certain level,so as to explore the real life,Coelho shows his care and concern of it.The research and study of his work will allow us not only to withdraw from the "pain of growth" and to pay attention to the life from a more positive and beautiful side,but also to have a broader vision on the literary motif-"growth".Paulo Coelho is unique,as his novels did not deliberately pursue the protagonist and social assimilation and reconciliation,but also not focus on male roles,or emphasize the self-realization and personal will under rich religious colors.It is true that the works of Coelho deal with common topics in the process of growth,such as escape,imagination,rebellions and epiphany,but his writing angle is still considered unique.The magical realism in the context of Latin American culture has given the mysticism aesthetics of the works of Coelho,and has made his works focus more on the inner world and the soul than any other bildungsroman.Coelho's novels focus on the absurdity between the ideal of man and the world itself,explore the idea that "faith is born by fear" in religion,and ironize the pressure imposed on the individual by the public will,which make people insane.It also shows all the consequences led by different options to the general public,but it does not give a standard answer.The psychological discussion about the "love and will",the speculation of transcendentalism on "despair and hope",or the protagonists' concept of life and death "born to death" make Paulo Coelho an unique bildungsroman author.This is an important indication that shows we can easily distinguish him from other authors.Coelho is keen on writing practice,and he is good at using a fable narrative approach to combine rich and full theology,philosophy,psychology,other disciplines and literary creation to form a style,using simple words but expressing deep meaning.Whether it is Latin American magical realism literature concerned about "loneliness" theme,or theological exploration rooted in the Brazilian Catholic faith,or even the modern society of women's physical and mental growth concerns all have bloomed because of his unique angle.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between growth and wandering,growth and love,growth and death through the analysis of Coelho's works so as to dig out the depths of human nature of good and evil,life and death,right and wrong and religious view.From the perspective of Coelho,divinity was born by the original goodness rooted in human nature,death is not the end of life,and we cannot be a member of mob even if belief stems from fear.