- Miracle in Seville
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Miracle In Seville 
1st edition coverAuthor(s) James Michener Country United States Language English Genre(s) Historical novel Publisher Random House Publication date 1995 Media type Print (Hardback) Pages 107pp. ISBN 0-679-41822-9 Miracle in Seville (1995) is a novel by James A. Michener.
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,[1] as was the case with The Bridge At Andau and Iberia. 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, and the hope of God's forgiveness and redemption, into the Spanish tradition of bullfighting. The action occurs during Holy Week in Spain, 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 matador (Lazaro Lopez), 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 Lopez 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
- ^ Michener: A Writer's Journey, Stephen May, University of Oklahoma Press, 2005
Works by James A. Michener Novels The Fires of Spring (1949) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • Sayonara (1954) • Hawaii (1959) • Caravans (1963) • The Source (1965) • The Drifters (1971) • Centennial (1974) • Chesapeake (1978) • The Watermen (1979) • The Covenant (1980) • Space (1982) • Poland (1983) • Texas (1985) • Legacy (1987) • Alaska (1988) • Caribbean (1989) • Journey (1989) • The Novel (1991) • South Pacific (1992) • Mexico (1992) • Recessional (1994) • Miracle in Seville (1995) • Matecumbe (2007)
Non-fiction The Future of the Social Studies (1939) • The Voice of Asia (1951) • The Floating World (1954) • The Bridge at Andau (1957) • Rascals in Paradise (1957) • Japanese Prints (1959) • Report of the Country Chairman (1961) • Iberia (1968) • Presidential Lottery (1969) • The Quality of Life (1970) • Kent State: What Happened and Why (1971) • Firstfruits, A Harvest of 25 Years of Israeli Writing (1973) • Sports in America (1976) • About Centennial: Some Notes on the Novel (1978) • United States of America (1982) • Collectors, Forgers — And A Writer: A Memoir (1983) • All We Did Was Fly to the Moon (1985) • Six Days in Havana (1989) • Pilgrimage: A Memoir of Poland and Rome (1990) • The Eagle and the Raven (1990) • My Lost Mexico (1992) • The World Is My Home (1992) • Writer's Handbook (1992) • Creatures of the Kingdom (1993) • Literary Reflections (1993) • William Penn (1994) • Ventures in Editing (1995) • This Noble Land (1996) • A Century of Sonnets (1997)
Short story collections Tales of the South Pacific (1947) • Return to Paradise (1951) • Selected Writings of James Michener (1978)
Film, TV and
theatrical adaptationsSouth Pacific (musical) (1949) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • Return to Paradise (1953) • Sayonara (1957) • Until They Sail (1957) • South Pacific (film) (1958) • Hawaii (1966) • The Hawaiians (1970) • Centennial (1978) • Space (1985) • Texas (1994) • South Pacific (film) (2001)
Categories:- 1995 novels
- Novels by James A. Michener
- Random House books
- Novels set in Spain
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