Death in the Afternoon

Death in the Afternoon
by Ernest Hemingway

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Book Summary Information

Author: Ernest Hemingway
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-04-16
ISBN: 0684801450
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Scribner

Book Reviews of Death in the Afternoon

Book Review: Death as an art form
Summary: 5 Stars

I am an aficionado of the corrida and, almost necessarily, loved this book. It is the best thing every written on the subject and, although I don't agree with Hemingway's every point, I still enjoy it. The book was written in 1930 and, even then, he decries a certain corruption in the spectacle. He maintains that the bulls have been bred down in size to make it easier for the matador to work and ultimately kill the bull. Maybe, although I haven't seen this tendency during my lifetime.

He also decries the fact that the emphasis is less and less on the killing as opposed to pageantry and hot-dogging [read Mitchener's "Mexico"]. There is some truth in this but, even back in 1930, Madrid was becoming a tourist mecca and, to a certain extent, the matadors were and are playing to unsophisticated audiences. On the other hand, my experience in less touristy areas has been the opposite. The kill, although not the total point of the fight, is definitely the most important part. Pity the poor matador who has a perfect fight only to have his sword, at the "moment of truth", glance off a rib. He won't get two ears and a tail. He'll be lucky if he gets one ear.

I think Hemingway should have more emphasized that the corrida is NOT a sport. It is a tragedy which appeals to the Spanish [and some non-Spanish]mind. It is not meant to be "fair" in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word. A brave beast rages courageously only to be bloodied, broken and killed. The matador, on his part, needs to be just as brave. If you don't think so, just try to face a 1500 beast that wants to destroy you with a cape and a flimsy sword. To go to a bullfight hoping the matador will be knocked down and gored, would be like going to a ballet and hoping the prima ballerina fall on her face.

It is a deliberate tragedy where sometimes the dead bull gets a bigger hand than does the matador. It appealed to Hemingway's fatalism. Most of his stories, if you think about it, mirrored the corrida. "All true stories end in death." He said. If you read his tales most end with defeat and death. The Snows of Kilamanjaro, The Old Man and the Sea, The Short and Happy life of Francis MacComber, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and many, many others. I wonder if he was thinking of the wounded bull when he loaded his shotgun that day...

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

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Hemingway, Ernest Books

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