''Miracle in Seville'' (
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
) is a novel by
James A. Michener, the last to be released during his lifetime. (''
Recessional'', however, was the last to be completed.)
In addition to his output of large, multigenerational novels, Michener was also a prolific journalist, traveling around the world and reporting on a variety of issues for peer-reviewed journals and sometimes for individual publication as novels,
[''Michener: A Writer's Journey'', Stephen May, University of Oklahoma Press, 2005] as was the case with ''
The Bridge at Andau'' and ''
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
''. ''Miracle in Seville'' is just such a book.
The tale is narrated by Shenstone, an American sports writer who is in Spain to research an article about a disgraced breeder of fighting bulls. He witnesses a miraculous intervention, and a conflict between the Virgin Mary and the fortune teller sister of a matador who may have cursed the rancher's herd.
Plot
The story draws on religious themes, interweaving gypsy traditions, belief in the intervening power of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
, and the hope of God's forgiveness and redemption, into the
Spanish tradition of bullfighting. The action occurs during
Holy Week in Spain
Holy Week in Spain is the annual tribute of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods (Spanish: cofradía) and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of almost every Spanish city and town d ...
, and Michener competently captures the religious processions. He provides meticulous detail of bull fights (although some reviewers have taken umbrage at supposedly erroneous details in his narrative). The tale involves a
Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
matador (Lazaro López), his sister (Magdalena López) who reads fortunes, a
cross-eyed Virgin Mary (La Bizca), the American writer (Shenstone), the Spanish bull breeder (Don Cayetano Mota) who is struggling to revive his once-famed herd, and of course the many bulls in Mota's herd.
Despite his initial skepticism, the American is drawn into Mota's efforts, which involve fervent prayers to The Virgin and Herculean acts undertaken during Holy Week to prove his devotion and piety. He knows that his prayers will eventually be rewarded, and this knowledge allows him to live with the often-humiliating performance of his bulls in the arena vis-a-vis the arrogant Gómez. We learn that Lazaro López is also being aided by a powerful female, his sister, who may have the ability to curse the bulls that her brother must face. She is determined that her brother must prevail.
References
{{JamesAMichener
1995 American novels
Novels by James A. Michener
Random House books
Novels set in Seville