Anthology

comes from the Greek word that stands for garlands - a bouquet of flowers. An anthology then, should be a sort of reminder of something else, a small token of something much larger. In the case of flowers, they bring with their fragrance and colorfulness the reminder of the fields, of a season. Coelho's anthology, therefore, is not only a collection of texts or poems, but a gift, something arranged according to his sensitivities, to give to others. The selection of books presented in this volume have been chosen as if from a vast field of flowers, stretching infinitely into time's horizon.

Coelho's selection is ordered in to the four elements, symbolizing both our world on all its directions, and the way we dwell in this world, the way we say it. In Earth we find writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde and D H Lawrence; in Air Nelson Mandela and Gabriel Garcia Marques; in Fire Rumi and Mary Shelley; in Water Hans Christian Anderson and Machiavelli.