3. What stylistic strategies does Coelho use to make The Alchemist come across as a mythic, universally applicable story?

The mythic takes place outside of history. The main stylistic strategy Coehlo uses to give his work a mythic feel is to place it apart from the historical and the specific.

The tale does start off in a place, for we are told early on that:

The girl was typical of the region of Andalusia, with flowing black hair, and eyes that vaguely recalled the Moorish conquerors.

So we know that Santiago, the main character,...

The mythic takes place outside of history. The main stylistic strategy Coehlo uses to give his work a mythic feel is to place it apart from the historical and the specific.

The tale does start off in a place, for we are told early on that:

The girl was typical of the region of Andalusia, with flowing black hair, and eyes that vaguely recalled the Moorish conquerors.

So we know that Santiago, the main character, starts off in Spain. We learn that the story is set after the time of the "Moorish conquerors," but we are given no specific dates to know when this might be and only a general sense of place. We learn Santiago is heading to the pyramids, but we do not know much beyond that. We also know the story is set in the past, because the characters do not have automobiles, phones, planes, and other modern technologies, but it is an unspecified past—hence a mythic past. 

Also, many of the characters do not have names, but are, in fact, representative types, such as a merchant or an old woman. Again, this lack of specificity as to proper names lends a mythic, universal quality to the novel. Santiago himself is often referred to as the "boy," making him seem a mythic representative of all boys who aspire to follow their dreams.