DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON

Rating:
Summary: The fine art of bullfighting
Review: Hemingway is at his best when discussing the fine art of bullfighting. He demonstrates a great appreciation for the bloodsport without romanticizing it. However, the writing is even. He throws in incidental pieces such as his running dialog with an old lady which only serves to detract from the subject. I suppose he was having a little fun with his publishers who probably thought a book on bullfighting wouldn't wash with the general readership, but the old lady becomes a nuissance and I was happy that he dropped her a little over half way through the book.

At the time, bullfighting would have probably seemed foreign to most American readers. But Hemingway notes the handfull of Americans and other expatriates who took part in the corrida. He laments the modernization of the sport in which the art of killing seemed to be lost. He provides an excellent description of the disciplines of bullfighting, the way in which it plays out like a three-act tragedy for the bull.

The time frame is ca. 1930 but it doesn't seem the sport has changed much since then. It is one of the many traditions in Spain that has survived the upheavels of the 20th century. The Socialists tried to eradicate it but failed. Bullfighting takes on a metaphysical aspect in some of the matadors and bulls he describes. It is wonderful reading and a great introduction to the subject.

Rating:
Summary: magnificent
Review: Hemingway loved bullfighting. And Spain. His affection for these comes across in this book. Death in the Afternoon is also infused with Hemingway's personality, which has been called his greatest artistic creation, and that makes this book especially personal and interesting.
This is a great book to read on a flight to Spain, particularly if you plan to see a bullfight. With your newly-minted expertise in bullfighting, you'll apreciate the pageant much more.
But Death in the afternoon is not just about bullfighting. Hemingway discusses such topics as death, often death, war, writing, art (a comparison of the painters Goya, Velasquez and El Greco), love and Faulkner. This book is more than a guide to bullfighting -- it is good literature.

Rating:
Summary: Great Writer. Horrific, outdated material.
Review: Hemmingway may be a classic - but that doesn't mean this book has any place in literary history.

How can an intelligent person defend a blood sport between man and animal that is unfair from the get-go? In bullfighting, the bull, whether he wins the fight or not, will always be sent to a gruesome death. It is a hideous, cruel sport that every Spaniard and supporter, should be ashamed of. Why it has not been outlawed, is a disgrace.

Burn this book!

Rating:
Summary: Hemmingway's bullfighting
Review: Hemmingway's typically aggressive approach to life and morality is applied to bullfighting in this manual of how man and beast can compete for the ultimate prize. The book must be a psycho-analyst's dream as Hemmingway disposes of all moral considerations on bullfighting within a few paragraphs but continuously makes parallels with WWI slaughters and references to the Spanish civil war. Is there any such thing as a fair fight? Is the bull really the hero or is the bull a beast to be "corrected"? It is a cleverly written book which is on the surface a treatise on a very basic and earthy subject but which requires a deeper consideration of its moral aspects. The book is without a formal conclusion but invites the reader to decide if bullfighting is for them or not - to question why and to apply that logic to larger questions. The details of various matadors are interesting and may be the author's tribute to an art but might just be Hemmingway blurring the challenge with detail, much as in real life.

It is an interesting book, quite different to his novels but with the typical robust challenge from Hemmingway to rebut his point of view or just close the book!

Rating:
Summary: Great writer, great book
Review: I am a big Hemingway fan, but had put off reading this one because of my lack of interest in bullfighting. However, this book amply confirms the idea that if the writer is good enough, he/she can make anything interesting. I have never seen a bullfight in my life, nor do I intend to, and yet I loved this book. The descriptions of the bullfighters' motions and the art of bullfighting is poetic in its simplicity. My one caveat: be ready to get a lot of bullfighting terminology thrown at you. Pay attention to the explanations early on or you won't know what he's talking about later.

Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK ABOUT BULL FIGHTING WITHOUT DISCUSSION!!!
Review: I am a bullfighter fan ( I am Spanish ) and in my life I have taken to bullfighting to many foreign friends, I know well their point of views about the fiesta in the beginning but when you explain whatÂ's all about and the so many rules and regulation a corrida has, and the so many things that are happening but you donÂ't see, they absolutely enjoyed.
I wanted to read this book in English because I would like to know the english vocabulary of the fiesta and how the fiesta was in 1931 that my father used to tell me, after finishing it I have to say that this is absolutely the best book about bullfighting I have ever read so far!.
It is awesome how this american could achieve so vaste knowledge about this matter.
I love the enthusiastic way he describes all the aspects of the fiesta,the bullfighters and their different technics,everything is here, even the two roads which existed in the age to get from Madrid to Seville.
I like very much the comparision he does at the beggining of the book between wine and bullfighting.
I thought I knew a lot about our national party but after reading this book I realised I was partially wrong.
And what to say about the way Hemingway writes... It is absolutely phantastic, pure magic and amazing...
My advice is if after reading this book you want to assist to a corrida do the possible to go with an aficionado you will enjoy the triple!!.

Rating:
Summary: Introducing the Bull Fight to Potential Fans
Review: I don't approve of killing animals for entertainment, and this book did not change that disapproval. I endorse this book because of its qualities as a model for introducing a subject to a new learner, rather than for its subject matter.

If you like bullfights, you will like this book because Death in the Afternoon will expand your understanding of what you see. If you want to go to bullfights, this is a good book also because it will tell you how to do so in the most enjoyable way for you.

Most people will never attend a bullfight, because of ethical concerns, some personal dismay about their potential reaction to the violence and horror of the event, or due to lack of opportunity (bullfighting is mainly done in Spain and Mexico). Many of these people will have some interest in understanding more about bullfighting or the appeal and spectacle of the event. Death in the Afternoon provides you with a thoughtful way to satisfy any curiosity you may have.

Hemingway set out to write "an introduction to the modern Spanish bullfight and attempt[ed] to explain that spectacle both emotionally and practically." I think he more than succeeded.

As a child, my parents sometimes took me to Tiajuana in Baja California where bullfights were regularly held on the weekends. We all agreed that we did not approve of killing bulls for sport, and never attended one. But my curiosity was aroused by the sight of the enormous crowds that regularly attended. Until reading this book, I could not understand the appeal. Now I do. I know that bullfights are not for me, but I now know why some like them very much.

Hemingway leads you gently into the subject as though you were chatting while seated at a comfortable table in an outdoor cafe on a pleasant afternoon sipping your favorite beverages. In fact, for part of the book, he invents an "old lady" whom he converses with for comic effect.

He tells you about his own experiences throughout beginning with, "At the first bullfight I ever went to I expected to be horrified and perhaps sickened by what I had been led to believe would happen to the horses." It turned out that this was not his reaction at all. He liked the bullfight, and saw 1,500 bulls killed before writing this book. He also reports that many people he took to fights often experienced different emotions than they expected. Women who disliked violence did not automatically dislike bullfights, and macho men did not necessarily like them.

The central emotion that "good" bullfights create is of grace in the face of death which is inspired by "the closeness with which the matador brings the bull past his body and the slowness with which he can execute the pass."

In the period about which he writes, the 1920s into 1931, bullfighting was in a "decadent" age brought about by a fascination with coming ever closer to the bull's horn and doing more and more elaborate cape work. In addition to the death of many bulls, this also brought about horrible injuries and death for virtually every bullfighter mentioned. That brings special meaning to Hemingway's assertion that bullfighting "is not a sport in the Anglo-Saxon sense . . . ." "Rather it is a tragedy, the death of the bull . . . ." But you will also come to know the tragedy of Joselito, Manuel Granero, and Maera.

Despite my objections to bullfighting, I was tremendously impressed by Hemingway's powers of observation. You will learn about so many miniscule aspects and details of bullfighting, that it will leave your head spinning. For example, a bull that erratically charges to one side or another has to be handled much differently in each pass than one who is like a mechanical bull and is very predictable. Bullfighters prefer the latter, but some of the best work is with the former if the bull is malleable. Does the bullfighter try to teach the bull, or simply survive the experience? The reaction of the bullfighter tells much about his character. The reaction of the fans tells much about their knowledge and character. You feel like you are looking at the world through many revolving kaleidescopes as images are considered in the context of other images, like an unending house of mirrors.

The book says a lot about character -- the character of those involved in bullfighting and the fans. Although Hemingway admires the "honor" of those who face death bravely and act properly in the bull ring, he also points out that too much "honor" is dangerous. In essence, he makes an argument against the values of bullfighting even though he is an aficionado.

He is honest with us, by also sharing his own failed experiences with trying to learn to fight the bulls.

The book is greatly aided by many detailed and impressive photographs that illustrate the points in the book that would otherwise be lost on the reader who has not attended a bullfight. There is also a 61 page glossary of terms to help you handle all of the new concepts he throws at you.

There are some incidental benefits for those who decide not to attend bullfights. Hemingway provides many detailed descriptions of the geography, weather, and characteristics of the people in different parts of Spain. I got several ideas for places I would like to visit on future trips as a result. At the end, he laments that he could not work in the rest of Spain into the book beginning with the Prado. I shared that lament, because a similar book on Spain by Hemingway would have been even more interesting and valuable to me. I can only imagine what his other wonderful descriptions would have been like.

I suggest you take this book and outline it to see the process by which Hemingway takes you from being a neophyte to a quite well-grounded person about bullfighting. How could you do the same for a subject that you need to introduce many people to? If you learn from his story-telling skills, you will be well-rewarded for your experience.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent piece of bullfighting literature
Review: I found this book fascinating. I am not a big Hemingway fan, but I am a fan of bullfighting, and it was great to read of the Spanish history of the sport. The only complaint I have is that at times he tends to ramble...however, this book is a superb starting point for any who are intersted in bullfighting...and it has great photos too!!

Rating:
Summary: Not Typical Hemingway
Review: I got this book for Christman two years ago. At that point in my life I was infatuated with everything Hemingway and assumed that this was a novel about bullfighting. Well, it's not. But, if you read it with an open mind, you just might want to see a bullfight for yourself. Good style, reminds me of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi".

Rating:
Summary: A lesson for today's writers
Review: I liked this book! Trying to defend "Death in the Afternoon" in these politically correct times is like trying to argue that Hitler was just a misunderstood guy with some unconventional ideas. Oh well, here goes. Let's start with the basics. The book is largely non-fiction. It deals with bullfighting. It is written by Hemingway. And it goes into considerable detail about actual bullfighters who by now must certainly be dead. What possible "relevance" can this book have today? The answer: "plenty." What I like most about "Death in the Afternoon" is Hemingway's honest (and I think genuine) attempt to explain --not defend -- the appeal that bullfighting has to its followers. Hemingway nowhere claims to be unbiased. He enjoys bullfights and doesn't pretend otherwise. Nor does he apologize for its harsh realities. His honest assessment, for example, that padding the horses has far more to do with protecting Anglo-American sensibilities than the flanks of the horses -- and that the pads, therefore, are themselves dishonest -- is refreshing and too little seen among today's writers. So too are his frank admissions that the bull doesn't have a chance, that a bullfight is not a "contest" in the usual sense, and that it is really "a drama carried out in three acts." What writer today--regardless of his views--dares speak with such honesty? Hemingway's honest comments regarding the different styles and abilities of actual bullfighters are something few, if any, of today's writers would attempt. (Admittedly, libel laws might have something to do with this.) The "anti-esthetic" and "praying-mantis" manner of Nicanor Villalta is contrasted with the "grace" of Cagancho. After ridiculing Villalta's cape work and praising Cagancho's, Hemingway points out Cagancho's cowardice and redeems Villalta with the observation that, "Villalta kills though in a way no gypsy ever killed and it would be unfair to show how silly he looks with his feet apart and not show him leaning in after the sword." Who writes like that nowadays? For a work of non-fiction, "Death in the Afternoon" is a rich source of those thoughts and phrases that have a kind of universal truth to them beyond their literal meaning and that stay with you long after the book is finished. Some of my favorites: "Ver llegar: to watch them come; the ability to watch the bull come as he charges with no thought except to calmly see what he is doing and make the moves necessary to the manouever you have in mind." (This one even found it's way into Gerry Spence's book, "How to Argue and Win Everytime.") "THE SEED BULL. At twenty-two years the horns are splintered; the eyes are slow and all the weight has gone forward and away from where eight hundred and twenty-two sons came from to the ring...." (Is this the fate of most men, too?) "And finally El Gallo in one of the seies of delicate formal compositions that the happier part of his life in the ring consisted of. The bull, as he should be, is dead. The man, as he should be, is alive and with a tendency to smile." I dont' know about you, but I like stuff like that. If you find yourself saying things like, "I just don't understand how anyone could possibly enjoy...," -- and you are in fact someone who genuinely WANTS to understand -- do yourself a favor and give this book a chance. Just as Moby Dick is about more than a whale, this book is about more than just bullfighting.