Death and the Sun: A Matador's Season in the Heart of Spain

by EdwardLewine (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $4.83

  There's nothing more Spanish than bullfighting, and nothing that stirs up more judgements and emotions. For Spanish aficionados, it is an art form - balletic, highly skilled, beautiful - not a blood sport, and is covered by the Arts sections, not the Sports Pages, of Spanish papers. Bullfighters are treated like royalty, scrutinized and gossiped about endlessly for as long as they are in the public eye. For a fascinated observer like Lewine, the art of bullfighting proves to be one of the world's most venerable subcultures, seeped in ancient ritual, archetypal machismo, and the feverish attentions of the tabloid press...Lewine illuminates this art and the country it defines by spending a year with one of Spain's premier matadors and all-around celebrities, Francisco Rivera Ordonez. Francisco's grandfather was the greatest bullfighter of his day, whose exploits were chronicled in Hemingway's DEATH AND THE AFTERNOON. Francisco's father was also a distinguished matador, whose stellar career came to an abrupt end when he was impaled in the stomach by his bull when his son was only ten. Francisco is as gifted if not more so than his own forebears, but he is scarred by his father's public death. Now, as the new season opens, he feels anxious of the pressure to live up to his family legacy. His life is complicated by the tabloid scrutiny of his personal life as he separates from his wife, an Italian duchess. Nonetheless, Fran manages a thrilling bloodless season: with early triumphs spoiled by a potentially career-ending injury and a difficult, yet convincing return to glory. Much as Alex Bellos' FUTBAL: A BRAZILIAN WAY OF LIFE unvelled Brazil through its national sport, DEATH AND THE SUN reveals Spain through its own national obsession, revealing it as few outsiders will have seen. It is a book that combines the tension of cliff-hanging narrative with the pleasures of travel writing, and the stimulation of a deep analysis of one country's ancient and thrilling way of keeping itself entertained.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.35

  Is it an immoral spectacle or a metaphor of life? Bullfighting never fails to provoke a reaction. In this unusual travel memoir, Edward Lewine embarks on an eye-opening journey around Spain, to track a typical season for the country's biggest bullfighter, Francisco Rivera Ordonez. Fighting bulls while fleeing celebrity, Spain's most infamous matador lives both his public and his private life on the edge. The last in a distinguished bloodline, he is plagued by the legacies of his great-grandfather, the greatest matador of his day and revered by Hemingway, and by his late father, who was gored to death in the arena. With sixty-two fights and a hundred and twenty bulls to confront in the coming season, Francisco must also endure the aggressive attention of the paparazzi, who pursue him for news of his colourful private life and breakdown of his marriage to a Spanish duchess. Lewine witnesses at first hand, the thrilling routine of a top bullfighter - the rituals, the risks, and the stage fright - and assesses the significance of bullfighting in the context of Spanish identity. This national obsession encapsulates the uniqueness of Spanish culture.