Analysis of mystical and epistemological discourse in Paulo Coelho's Manual of the Warrior of Light

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Corresponding Author, Associate Professor, Department of Persian languages and literature, faculty of literature and humanities, neyshabur university, neyshabur, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of History, faculty of literature and humanities, neyshabur university, neyshabur, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, faculty of literature and humanities, neyshabur university, neyshabur, Iran

Abstract

Analysis of mystical and epistemological discourse in Paulo Coelho's Manual of the Warrior of Light
The extraordinary success of Paulo Coelho's works in recent decades has led to the analysis of these works from various points of view of narratology, mysticism, the theme of the Journey, etc. Due to the similarity in appearance and the themes presented in Coelho's works, one of the points worthy of attention in the analysis of his works is the hypothesis of adaptation from Persian mystical works, particularly the thoughts of Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi. In this study, according to discourse analysis method and context of the situation of Paulo Coelho's works, firstly, the common features of the novel Manual of the Warrior of Light, which is a synthesis of the thoughts of all Coelho's works, with the great works of Persian didactic mysticism (especially Rumi, Hafez and Saadi) has been examined, then the difference between Coelho's approach and Persian mystical works is discussed. In short, the results show that, albeit in the appearance of Manual of the Warrior of Light, there are common aspects with the Persian mystical works, which has made the readers attention to this work, the purpose and result of this work is only to encourage the audience to achieve material goals is, which completely different from the Persian mysticism.
Comparative literature, Manual of the Warrior of Light novel, newfound spiritual behavior, pseud mysticism, modernity.

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References

Luik, John (1998), "Humanism", in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London and New York, Routledge.
Rodrigues, D. S. (2011). The spiritual quest in Paulo Coelho’s novels: A Jungian perspective. Journal of Literature and Psychology, 57, 34–50.
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Shinde, P. P. (2020). Quest for self as reflected in Paulo Coelho’s novel “The Alchemist”. Shanlax International Journal of English, 8 (2) 7–10.
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Comparative Study of Religions and Mysticism
Volume 10, Issue 2
October 2026
Pages 25-53

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History

  • Receive Date: 12 September 2024
  • Revise Date: 28 June 2025
  • Accept Date: 13 September 2025

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