Motivos: The Life of St. Francis by Gabriela Mistral (review)

In 1922, Gabriela Mistral poetically wrote of St. Francis of Assisi: “He would feel the world as light as a crown of flowers. Perched at its edges, he didn’t want to weigh more than the sipping bee” (p. 8). Throughout her life, Gabriela Mistral turned to the “Poveretto” or “Pobrecillo” to lighten her life and give her spiritual meaning, especially in times when she was surrounded by crisis or given to bitter disappointment. At the time she wrote the verses above, Mistral was living in Mexico by invitation of Secretary of Public Education José Vasconcelos and was attempting to balance the fervent politics of postrevolutionary Mexico with her travels, educational practice, and the intellectual engagements she participated in and actively promoted. Her short reflections on St. Francis often provided a calming respite. During her time in Mexico, (1922–1924), she wrote close to 30 episodes dedicated to the saint, and in each of them we find an intimate but expressive prose pondering a “contemplated reality” or “motivo” (p. vii). In a letter to the Chilean intellectual Eduardo Barrios, she wrote that she planned to publish her collection in a book illustrated by the Mexican muralist Roberto Montenegro. She continued to write her motivos after moving to France, hoping to complete them for the 700th anniversary of St. Francis’s death in 1926, but it was not to be.

Motivos de San Francisco was never published during Mistral’s lifetime. Numerous Spanish publications followed later (1962, 1965, 1987, 1998, and 2005), but they were incomplete. Elizabeth Horan’s edited collection is to be commended as the first to publish all of the 44 motivos that Mistral wrote between 1922 and 1950. Unlike previous collections, Horan’s book is arranged by year and pinpoints where Mistral was when she wrote them. For Mistral scholars, this is important, as Mistral was always on the go and often did not label her texts accordingly.

The great achievement, indeed the uniqueness, of this volume lies in the beautifully rendered translations into English, the first complete collection of its kind. Students and scholars of Latin American and Translation Studies will find a treasure in Horan’s fine attention to detail and descriptive turns of phrase. Teachers will be able to use this bilingual edition as an entry into Mistral’s lyrical prose, as they will be able to choose among the motivos with ease.

Horan’s comprehensive afterword provides helpful context for the motivos. Students and scholars alike will be able to better understand Mistral and her intellectual connections through this illuminating critical study. It is here that we learn how Mistral’s early work in Chile led her to a politically charged life in Mexico, Spain, France, Brazil, and Washington. It is in the afterword too that we are introduced to Palma Guillén, Mistral’s appointed secretary in Mexico, a person who for a very long time played a pivotal role in Mistral’s literary output and personal connections.

Elizabeth Horan is a foremost scholar of Mistral, as demonstrated in her published work, whose topics range from Mistral’s queerness (Alternative Identities) to the poet’s diplomatic ties and consular duties (Consul Gabriela Mistral). In the current volume, Horan picks up key questions she has posed in her previous work, primarily those concerning Mistral’s religious and social practices. By identifying with St. Francis, Mistral could be politically savvy and a private poet at the same time—the saint gave her permission to combine her interests in education along with her mystical views on nature and Christianity.

The book includes notes and an extensive list of works cited. Illustrations by Roberto Montenegro, two of St. Francis, are interspersed throughout. Some Spanish readers may wish that the afterword could have been translated into Spanish to make this truly a bilingual edition. However, scholars will find this a valuable and engaging book that opens up yet another...