PAULO COEHLO - An InSpIrEr

I entered a tiled cubicle. There was a bed covered with a rubber sheet and beside the bed some sort of apparatus with a handle. “So you’re going to give me electric shock treatment,” I said to Dr Benjamim Gaspar Gomes. “Don’t worry. It’s far more traumatic watching someone being treated than actually having the treatment yourself. It doesn’t hurt at all.” I lay down and the male nurse put a kind of tube in my mouth so that my tongue wouldn’t roll back. Then, on either temple, he placed two electrodes, rather like the earpieces of a telephone. I was looking up at the peeling paint on the ceiling when I heard the handle being turned. The next moment, a curtain seemed to fall over my eyes; my vision quickly reduced down to a single point, and then everything went dark. The doctor was right; it didn’t hurt at all.’

The above was written during his second stay in a mental hospital.

Fast Facts: PAULO COEHLO

• Known for: Brazilian writer/novelist


• Born: August 24, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


• Parents: Lygia Araripe Coelho de Souza, Pedro Queima Coelho de Souza


• Spouse: Christina Oiticica


• Published Works: "The Pilgrimage," "The Alchemist," "Brida," "The Valkyries," "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept," "The Fifth Mountain," "Veronika Decides to Die," "The Devil and Miss Prym," "The Witch of Portobello," "Aleph," "Adultery," "Hippie"


• Awards and Honors: United Kingdom’s 2004 Nielsen Gold Book Award, France’s Grand Prix Litteraire Elle in 1995, Germany’s 2002 Corine International Award for fiction


• Notable quote: "Don't fear the light within. May it ignite the sacred flame in your soul.” ("The Valkyries").