Inspirations: Selections from Classic Literature

by Various, Paulo Coelho (Editor)

Overview

From the author of The Alchemist, a unique and edifying literary journey inspired by the four elements.

One of the world's best-loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho has brought joy and wisdom to millions. In Inspirations, his arrangement of his personal favorite literary classics is as selective as a bouquet of flowers, a gift to his readers. This compendium of works will becomes a perennial gift and perfect companion to Coelho's own bestselling classic, The Alchemist.

Coelho's inspiration draws from each work' affinity to the four elements.
Earth includes Oscar Wilde and D.H. Lawrence
Air includes Nelson Mandela and Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fire includes Rumi and Mary Shelley
Water includes Hans Christian Andersen and Niccolo Machiavelli

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141194004
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paulo Coelho, one of the most widely read authors in the world, is the author of The Alchemist, among other books. He has been a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002 and was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2007.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Water

Subtle Realm

Unconsciousness

Mind

Dreams

Strategy

Logic

Possibilities

Passivity

Mobility

Introduction 3

The Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Andersen 5

'The Prologue' from Tales from the Thousand and One Nights 15

from The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli 23

from Through the Looking-Glass-'Looking-glass House' Lewis Carroll 43

from The Art of War - 'Forms and Dispositions' Sun-tzu 53

Earth

Winter

Body

Decay

Womb

Mother

Receptive

Passive

Stagnation (Prison)

Roots

Introduction 61

Oscar Wilde: from De Profundis 63

from Dracula -'Dr Seward's Diary' Bram Stoker 76

from Eichmann and the Holocaust Hannah Arendt 81

from Selected Poems - 'He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven' and 'The Song of Wandering Aengus' W. B. Yeats 90

from Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 92

Air

Breath

Life

Communication

Action

Instability

Agitation (not action)

Introduction 107

from No Easy Walk to Freedom - 'Black Man in a White Man's Court' Nelson Mandela 109

from One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez 117

from The Strange Case of Full Statement of the Case' Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde 'Henry Jekyll's 125

from Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell 132

from Fictions - 'The Library of Babel' Jorge Luis Borges 141

Fire

Spirit

Light

Heat

Darkness (Smoke) Hymn

Hell

Motion: Root of all change

Introduction 153

From the Rig Veda - 'Hymns to Agni, God of the Sacrifice' 156

From The Desert Fathers - Sayings of the Early Christian Monks - 'Visions' 167

From the Bhagavad Gita 181

From the Dead Sea Scrolls 192

from Venus in Furs Leopold Sacher-Masoch 194

from The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 199

from Spiritual Verses Rumi 202

from Selected Poems - 'Brahma, Visnu, Siva' Rabindranath Tagore 223

from Frankenstein Mary Shelly 227

Acknowledgements 237