Without using the phrase, Hemingway recognized that by the 1920’s political correctness had already pushed the golden age of bullfighting into the past, but there was still honor in the spectacle, and Papa cherished all things honorable. Honorable because bulls were still bred for fighting characteristics, reared with as little familiarity to man as possible so as to keep the beasts wild and unpredictable. Honorable because the matador stepped into the ring without armor, knowing that goring was common, and death was certain – death of the matador if the bull was not managed meticulously.
Death in the Afternoon is more than a treatise on bullfighting, as the book is most often described. Surely, Hemingway details the cultural impact of bullfighting in Spain, the great fighters of the time, and the techniques of breeding great bulls, but the novel’s brilliance is his discussion of human nature through the prism of the fight.
Hemingway dissects those who attend the bullfight; the aficionados, the curious, as well as those predisposed to dislike the event. Even more fascinating, he discusses the matadors and what motivates a man to enter, and make a career, in the ring. For some it’s honor, others family tradition, and some a hope for a large fee. As an expert, Papa can tell the men from the frauds by their footwork, the movement of the muleta, and a willingness to allow the bull’s horns to pass in dangerous proximity to the matador’s belly.
Hemingway traveled from Pamplona to Valencia and Madrid watching the fights. In Valencia, he loved his dinners at La Pepica, a restaurant located on the beach at the edge of the Mediterranean. At the time he was immortalizing his love of bullfighting in his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, and his aura can still be felt in La Pepica as one swills wine and tucks into a bowl of seafood soup. Death in the Afternoon is a somewhat forgotten Hemingway classic, and I recommend reading it on the beach in Valencia, knowing dinner awaits when the sun goes down, at La Pepica.
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