Blood Sports

A review of a book on bullfighting that, of course, includes Hemingway:
http://www.tnr.com/book/review/the-death-lovers. I got on a Hemingway kick about seven or eight years ago and read a bunch of his stuff, including "Death in the Afternoon" his celebrated story of the demise of a famous bullfighter. Overall, I understand why Hemingway was a pacesetter of sorts and I very much appreciate his unapologetic masculine take on life but I do think that his stuff is now a little dated. The "McComber" story is really my favorite as are his other works set on safari or hunting in North America. I wasn't much taken in by the bullfighting stuff, though I would love to attend a bullfight and hopefully not screw up too much in the way of correct bullfight etiquette--the Spaniards are fussy about all that and I respect them for it.

I've hunted most of my life, so I do have an appreciation or understanding of the death thing as it applies to the sport. I don't live to kill or any of that rot but once you've done it a fair amount and engaged in the whole endeavor, both before and after the shot, you do get a little better acquainted with the life and death process and, I think, are able to view mortality with some additional level of clarity. People who are ranchers and farmers or those who live close to the edge understand it all very, very well and are not beset by the angst of dying and I think that is a healthy thing. The one thing that they get is that all life lives at the expense of something else and that they are part of that. They also have enough respect for the life they take to not make a mockery of it. Bullfighting treads a line on that and you can rightly argue the cons of the sport but the ritual of it is compelling to enough knuckle draggers to keep it going. When I'm in Spain, I'll let you know how it comes out.