Tue, 9 February 2010
Text size
Ernest Hemingway’s grandson spends his first trip to Pamplona trying to figure out why bullfighting captivated the novelist.PAMPLONA - "The chances are that the first bullfight any spectator attends may not be a good one artistically; for that to happen there must be good bullfighters and good bulls; artistic bullfighters and poor bulls do not make interesting fights..." So wrote Ernest Hemingway in his treatise on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon.
While that book has been on the sharp end of plenty of criticism from bullfighting experts over the decades, nobody could accuse Hemingway of not being acquainted with his subject. The first corrida the writer witnessed in Pamplona was in summer of 1923.
Yet to make a name for himself as a heavyweight writer, Hemingway was deeply affected by the fiesta, and he returned again and again over the following years. His early visits would provide the raw material for his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, much of which is set in Pamplona.
The book made the yearly running of the bulls in the northern Spanish town a world-famous event.
The Sun Also Rises follows a group of foreigners who are visiting Sanfermines. The narrator, Jake Barnes, is an impotent WWI veteran who is in love with the married Brett Ashley. The friends destroy themselves with cruelty, infidelity and emotional immaturity, filling the void with alcohol, partying and casual sex.
During his second visit to Sanfermines, in 1924, Hemingway witnessed the first recorded death of a runner at the horns of a bull, 22-year-old Esteban Domeño, an episode included in the novel.
Published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises catapulted Hemingway, and Pamplona's annual festival, to international fame.
Ever since, hordes of young men and women have arrived in Navarre from abroad, inspired by the curt prose of Hemingway and seeking to relive the adventures of Jake Barnes.
Here's a short introduction to our Renting a house or an apartment section for Spain.
Just moved to Spain? Check out our guide, your one-stop shop for surviving and thriving abroad.
Here's a short introduction to our Buying a house or apartment section for Spain.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
General rating:
Rate article:
Add my rating