Death in the Afternoon
by Ernest Hemingway 
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Publisher's description: Still considered one of the best books ever written about bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon reflects Hemingway's belief that bullfighting was more than mere sport. Here he describes and explains the technical aspects of this dangerous ritual, and "the emotional and spiritual intensity and pure classic beauty that can be produced by a man, an animal, and a piece of scarlet serge draped on a stick." Seen through his eyes, bullfighting becomes an art, a richly show more choreographed ballet, with performers who range from awkward amateurs to masters of great grace and cunning. A fascinating look at the history and grandeur of bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon is also a deeper contemplation on the nature of cowardice and bravery, sport and tragedy, and is enlivened throughout by Hemingway's pungent commentary on life and literature. show lessTags
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Qualcuno pensa che questo libro sia legato al supposto machismo di Hemingway e al suo amore per un passatempo deprecabile come le corride. Molto probabilmente o non ha letto il libro, o lo ha letto con pregiudizio. Questo libro, un po' romanzo, un po' saggio, un po' racconto di viaggio e guida turistica, è soprattutto un'analisi dell'umanita, di un certo tipo di uomini e donne, dei loro vizi e vezzi, della loro personalità e del loro atteggiarsi verso il mondo, oltre che una raccolta di pensieri fulminanti, e decisamente condivisibili, sulla vita in generale, e invito chiunque voglia provarcisi, ad andare a cercare il punto in cui si parla dei politici italiani, tanto per vedere se non la pensa come l'autore.
Ma, mi dirà qualcuno, si show more parla ben di tori morti, di uccisioni. Beh si. Ma a volte bisogna andare oltre le apparenze. show less
Ma, mi dirà qualcuno, si show more parla ben di tori morti, di uccisioni. Beh si. Ma a volte bisogna andare oltre le apparenze. show less
I went into Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon with perhaps the greatest scepticism I have ever felt towards a book. Whilst I am an earnest fan of Hemingway (see what I did there?), I have not read any of his work in some seven months or so, nor felt any desire to do so. I am also, like I imagine the vast majority of people today, opposed to the activity of bullfighting, finding it cruel and pointless. Even without this in mind, Death in the Afternoon seemed like a peculiar way to break my Hemingway fast: a highly-detailed treatise on a subject not really relevant to the modern world. Consequently, it was to my great surprise that I found much in this book to recommend.
Certainly, there are a number of negatives to this work. show more Hemingway, an aficionado of bullfighting in the 1930s, wrote this book to be an introduction to Spanish bullfighting and an attempt to explain that spectacle both emotionally and practically" (pg. 329). Whilst he does not claim to present a comprehensive or encyclopaedic book on the subject, it does provide more than just about anyone would ever want to know on the subject. Not content with providing a mere overview of the subject, Hemingway gets carried away at times in his detailing. On page 98, for example, he describes how bulls are branded, helpfully telling us that the branding irons, "bearing the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" (who'd have thought it?) "have a wooden handle and the points that are in the fire are heated red hot." It seems at times like an exercise in stating the obvious. His pedantry is never reigned in; on page 27, for example, he describes the seating arrangements (right down to the numbering of chairs) in a bullfighting arena. For a writer so renowned for his clean, sparse prose (indeed, Death in the Afternoon contains, on page 165, the 'iceberg' quote that would lend its name to his writing style), the book is remarkably long-winded.
On the face of it, it may seem like an unappealing book. Hemingway must have intended it for a niche audience: bullfighting was never a phenomenon outside of Spain even at its peak, and quite early on in the book he says readers should go no further until they have actually witnessed a bullfight firsthand (probably not going to happen for most). Noting this and the fact that he mentions specific dates that are best to visit bullfights, and naming some of the best bull-breeders around (in 1932), one can be certain that Hemingway didn't mean for the book to stand the test of time, or to be admitted as part of his literary canon to be assessed by future generations in the way that he might reasonably have expected for The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms. Rather, he probably expected it to be handled more in line with his journalistic output. It is therefore a real sign of the author's talent that Death in the Afternoon stands up on literary merit and, of all of his books that I have read (it is my eighth), it is only behind those three just mentioned in my eyes.
This is not to say that I am now a convert to the merits of bullfighting; I am not. Nothing will ever convince me that harming and killing animals (not just bulls, but horses too) for reasons other than necessity (sustenance, etc.) will ever be morally right. Animal cruelty for the purposes of mere entertainment seems particularly distasteful. However, such is the quality and steadfastness of Hemingway's prose at times that I sincerely challenged my views on the subject. Hemingway is not an apologist of bullfighting; he is never defensive and writes about it in a neutral way - indeed, the first lines of the book are an admission that he expected to be horrified by the ordeal of his first bullfight. He is a considerate companion to the reader in this daunting journey into the world of Spanish bullfighting and, whilst my views on it are fundamentally unchanged, he certainly convinced me that there is more to bullfighting than is commonly represented. I won't really go into specifics on which aspects of the practice he challenged, for it would be cruel for a prospective reader to read 300 pages on bullfighting in Hemingway's book and yet more in my admittedly lengthy review.
Key to Hemingway's perspective on bullfighting is that, as he ably demonstrates, it is an 'art' rather than a sport. As he notes quite early on (pg. 14), the bull is certain to die, whereas no one would rightly enter a sporting encounter in which one competitor was guaranteed victory. Rather, bullfighting is a sort of performance art - closest perhaps to a tragedy in a theatre. Compellingly, bullfighting is "the only art in which the artist is in danger of death" (pg. 78) and Hemingway does induce within his reader a quite unexpected empathy with the much-maligned matador, with some graphic descriptions of gorings (or cornadas) from which some matadors take weeks to die in horrific and unrelenting agony. He also allows one to get a sense of the dignity and majesty of the fighting bull (did you know that the matador's sword has to be put between the shoulder blades of the bull as this is an area that the bull can defend against?), and any bullfighter who doesn't respect these creatures is likely to end up with a horn in the gut. Even though I still cannot abide by much of the practice, I have been convinced by Hemingway that the matadors and the spectators are not wholly motivated by bloodlust, though I do not believe it can ever be truly discounted as a factor. If art is truly the aim, there are ways for true artists to convey the tragedy and honour of death without actually causing it in a poor animal.
I should perhaps also mention that Death in the Afternoon is not solely about bullfighting, and Hemingway at points contemplates war, literature and the art of writing, among other subjects. Some of these passages are crudely shoehorned into codas at the end of dense chapters on bullfighting, almost as if the writer was consciously aware that a dense treatise on the subject was unlikely to sustain a reader for 300 pages. But however awkward their placement, these passages are still profoundly enjoyable. Perhaps also recognising the inherent lack of humour in the main subject matter, Hemingway makes a greater effort to lighten the burden on the reader. There are some delightful moments of humour buried deep in this book, particularly when Hemingway is bickering with his 'old lady' character (who is unfortunately and inexplicably dropped two-thirds of the way through). Indeed, in writing on a subject so close to his heart, Hemingway lowers his defences to a level he did not usually allow in his more polished and popular novels. Recognising that the book is perhaps a bit dry, he makes a greater effort to engage with the reader and we get a better sense of Hemingway the man than in any other of his works in which he presents to us Hemingway the writer. It's just a shame that some of his clearest and most consistently thought-provoking writing came in perhaps his most dated and uninfluential niche work." show less
Certainly, there are a number of negatives to this work. show more Hemingway, an aficionado of bullfighting in the 1930s, wrote this book to be an introduction to Spanish bullfighting and an attempt to explain that spectacle both emotionally and practically" (pg. 329). Whilst he does not claim to present a comprehensive or encyclopaedic book on the subject, it does provide more than just about anyone would ever want to know on the subject. Not content with providing a mere overview of the subject, Hemingway gets carried away at times in his detailing. On page 98, for example, he describes how bulls are branded, helpfully telling us that the branding irons, "bearing the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" (who'd have thought it?) "have a wooden handle and the points that are in the fire are heated red hot." It seems at times like an exercise in stating the obvious. His pedantry is never reigned in; on page 27, for example, he describes the seating arrangements (right down to the numbering of chairs) in a bullfighting arena. For a writer so renowned for his clean, sparse prose (indeed, Death in the Afternoon contains, on page 165, the 'iceberg' quote that would lend its name to his writing style), the book is remarkably long-winded.
On the face of it, it may seem like an unappealing book. Hemingway must have intended it for a niche audience: bullfighting was never a phenomenon outside of Spain even at its peak, and quite early on in the book he says readers should go no further until they have actually witnessed a bullfight firsthand (probably not going to happen for most). Noting this and the fact that he mentions specific dates that are best to visit bullfights, and naming some of the best bull-breeders around (in 1932), one can be certain that Hemingway didn't mean for the book to stand the test of time, or to be admitted as part of his literary canon to be assessed by future generations in the way that he might reasonably have expected for The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms. Rather, he probably expected it to be handled more in line with his journalistic output. It is therefore a real sign of the author's talent that Death in the Afternoon stands up on literary merit and, of all of his books that I have read (it is my eighth), it is only behind those three just mentioned in my eyes.
This is not to say that I am now a convert to the merits of bullfighting; I am not. Nothing will ever convince me that harming and killing animals (not just bulls, but horses too) for reasons other than necessity (sustenance, etc.) will ever be morally right. Animal cruelty for the purposes of mere entertainment seems particularly distasteful. However, such is the quality and steadfastness of Hemingway's prose at times that I sincerely challenged my views on the subject. Hemingway is not an apologist of bullfighting; he is never defensive and writes about it in a neutral way - indeed, the first lines of the book are an admission that he expected to be horrified by the ordeal of his first bullfight. He is a considerate companion to the reader in this daunting journey into the world of Spanish bullfighting and, whilst my views on it are fundamentally unchanged, he certainly convinced me that there is more to bullfighting than is commonly represented. I won't really go into specifics on which aspects of the practice he challenged, for it would be cruel for a prospective reader to read 300 pages on bullfighting in Hemingway's book and yet more in my admittedly lengthy review.
Key to Hemingway's perspective on bullfighting is that, as he ably demonstrates, it is an 'art' rather than a sport. As he notes quite early on (pg. 14), the bull is certain to die, whereas no one would rightly enter a sporting encounter in which one competitor was guaranteed victory. Rather, bullfighting is a sort of performance art - closest perhaps to a tragedy in a theatre. Compellingly, bullfighting is "the only art in which the artist is in danger of death" (pg. 78) and Hemingway does induce within his reader a quite unexpected empathy with the much-maligned matador, with some graphic descriptions of gorings (or cornadas) from which some matadors take weeks to die in horrific and unrelenting agony. He also allows one to get a sense of the dignity and majesty of the fighting bull (did you know that the matador's sword has to be put between the shoulder blades of the bull as this is an area that the bull can defend against?), and any bullfighter who doesn't respect these creatures is likely to end up with a horn in the gut. Even though I still cannot abide by much of the practice, I have been convinced by Hemingway that the matadors and the spectators are not wholly motivated by bloodlust, though I do not believe it can ever be truly discounted as a factor. If art is truly the aim, there are ways for true artists to convey the tragedy and honour of death without actually causing it in a poor animal.
I should perhaps also mention that Death in the Afternoon is not solely about bullfighting, and Hemingway at points contemplates war, literature and the art of writing, among other subjects. Some of these passages are crudely shoehorned into codas at the end of dense chapters on bullfighting, almost as if the writer was consciously aware that a dense treatise on the subject was unlikely to sustain a reader for 300 pages. But however awkward their placement, these passages are still profoundly enjoyable. Perhaps also recognising the inherent lack of humour in the main subject matter, Hemingway makes a greater effort to lighten the burden on the reader. There are some delightful moments of humour buried deep in this book, particularly when Hemingway is bickering with his 'old lady' character (who is unfortunately and inexplicably dropped two-thirds of the way through). Indeed, in writing on a subject so close to his heart, Hemingway lowers his defences to a level he did not usually allow in his more polished and popular novels. Recognising that the book is perhaps a bit dry, he makes a greater effort to engage with the reader and we get a better sense of Hemingway the man than in any other of his works in which he presents to us Hemingway the writer. It's just a shame that some of his clearest and most consistently thought-provoking writing came in perhaps his most dated and uninfluential niche work." show less
http://andalittlewine.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-1-of-52-death-in-afternoon.html
I didn't really have any expectations when Carol brought me Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon as an unabridged audiobook from the library. I love Hemingway: the terseness that, in Death... sometimes approaches self caricature; the depth of thought and conviction beneath the simplicity of the story; the richly textured world his characters inhabit.
I never realized that I love Hemingway's sense of humor. It may be that, in his other works I've read, the humor is overshadowed by his seriousness, by the great man trying to be great. I was prepared for Death... to be a book about bullfighting, but it's really a self- and critic-mocking books about life and show more performance, and where the two coincide to create art.
The highlight of the book for me revolves around the "old woman," a character that Hemingway creates in the midst of this 'non-fiction' book to stand in place of the bullfighting amateur to whom he may impart his wisdom on bulls, bullfights and bullfighters (and the various venereal disease to which they are prone). At her insistence, he weaves into his book on bullfighting, stories, digressions on art and literature (and the flaws of its critics), and his views on courage.
The most important lesson for us to take from the bullfight is the pride of the matador. A matador deserves to be applauded if he performs all parts of the bullfight honestly and to the best of his ability; we should not hold it against a matador if he is too fat to face the bull in a stately manner, nor if he is too slow of foot to make brilliant passes with the muleta. If he tries truly and passionately and sincerely then what he has done will always be "very fine."
And that is precisely what Hemingway has given us: a very fine book; a nonfiction that is equal parts American essay in the tradition of Emerson and Thoreau and travel writing; a meta(non?)fiction that deconstructs our criticism of its flaws even as they form; a novel through digression that presages works like Nabokov's Pale Fire. It's been quite a while since I enjoyed a book this much. show less
I didn't really have any expectations when Carol brought me Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon as an unabridged audiobook from the library. I love Hemingway: the terseness that, in Death... sometimes approaches self caricature; the depth of thought and conviction beneath the simplicity of the story; the richly textured world his characters inhabit.
I never realized that I love Hemingway's sense of humor. It may be that, in his other works I've read, the humor is overshadowed by his seriousness, by the great man trying to be great. I was prepared for Death... to be a book about bullfighting, but it's really a self- and critic-mocking books about life and show more performance, and where the two coincide to create art.
The highlight of the book for me revolves around the "old woman," a character that Hemingway creates in the midst of this 'non-fiction' book to stand in place of the bullfighting amateur to whom he may impart his wisdom on bulls, bullfights and bullfighters (and the various venereal disease to which they are prone). At her insistence, he weaves into his book on bullfighting, stories, digressions on art and literature (and the flaws of its critics), and his views on courage.
The most important lesson for us to take from the bullfight is the pride of the matador. A matador deserves to be applauded if he performs all parts of the bullfight honestly and to the best of his ability; we should not hold it against a matador if he is too fat to face the bull in a stately manner, nor if he is too slow of foot to make brilliant passes with the muleta. If he tries truly and passionately and sincerely then what he has done will always be "very fine."
And that is precisely what Hemingway has given us: a very fine book; a nonfiction that is equal parts American essay in the tradition of Emerson and Thoreau and travel writing; a meta(non?)fiction that deconstructs our criticism of its flaws even as they form; a novel through digression that presages works like Nabokov's Pale Fire. It's been quite a while since I enjoyed a book this much. show less
I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked this up, but I thought if I were to read about bullfighting, Hemingway might be a good choice as a guide. I had no idea it would be so detailed.
I feel like I came away from it understanding the structure of a bullfight, the environment, the emotion. I was fascinated by his descriptions of proper killing, the work of the picadores and banderilleros (who I didn't even know existed before), and all the moves that a matador may perform, properly or improperly. Perhaps the most interesting part was Hemingway's recurring theme of the bravery of the bull. It's easy for an outsider to think of the matador as brave (or crazy), but one rarely considers the idea of a brave bull and how that bravery show more can raise the level of a bullfight to sheer brilliance if properly used by the matador.
Also, you get a glimpse of Spain and its people through his writing, which I also enjoyed immensely. And finally, some of it was quite funny, as my boyfriend can attest because I kept reading passages out loud to him. show less
I feel like I came away from it understanding the structure of a bullfight, the environment, the emotion. I was fascinated by his descriptions of proper killing, the work of the picadores and banderilleros (who I didn't even know existed before), and all the moves that a matador may perform, properly or improperly. Perhaps the most interesting part was Hemingway's recurring theme of the bravery of the bull. It's easy for an outsider to think of the matador as brave (or crazy), but one rarely considers the idea of a brave bull and how that bravery show more can raise the level of a bullfight to sheer brilliance if properly used by the matador.
Also, you get a glimpse of Spain and its people through his writing, which I also enjoyed immensely. And finally, some of it was quite funny, as my boyfriend can attest because I kept reading passages out loud to him. show less
I was a little surprised I enjoyed "Death in the Afternoon" as much as I did. I've always cringed at the idea of bullfights, except those in the south of France where rings are pulled off the bull's horns instead and the animals are not killed. However, Hemingway paints such a complete picture and immersed me into the world he loved that it was very intersting. The book also includes about 100 pages of pictures that bring the work to life. It's not fiction and it's not for everyone, but I liked it.
Quotes:
On change (and writing):
"I know things change now and I do not care. It’s all been changed for me. Let it all change. We’ll all be gone before it’s changed too much and if no deluge comes when we are gone it still will rain in show more summer in the north and hawks will still nest in the Cathedral at Santiago and in La Granja…We never will ride back from Toledo in the dark, washing the dust out with Fundador, nor will there be that week of what happened in the night in that July in Madrid. We’ve seen it all go and we’ll watch it go again. The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before; and not too damned much after."
On courage:
"If qualities have odors the odor of courage to me is the smell of smoked leather or the smell of a frozen road or the smell of the sea when the wind rips the top from a wave, but the valor of Luis Freg did not have that odor. It was clotted and heavy…"
On death:
"There is no lonelier man in death, except the suicide, than that man who has lived many years with a good wife and then outlived her. If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it."
On living in the now:
"Within our time the scientists may well abolish these old diseases and we’ll live to see the end of all morality. But meantime I would rather dine on suckling pig at Botin’s than sit and think of casualties my friends have suffered."
On suicide, certainly poignant given Hemingway's end:
"It seemed a crime to keep him alive and he would have been much luckier to have died soon after the fight while he still had control of himself and still possessed his courage rather than to have gone through the progressive horror of physical and spiritual humiliation that the long enough continued bearing of unbearable pain produces. … But as long as man is regarded as having an immortal soul and doctors will keep him alive through times when death would seem the greatest gift one man could give another, then the horses and the bulls will seem well taken care of and man to run the greatest risk."
On the younger generation:
"In the old days you went to a doctor and he fixed up, or tried to fix up, whatever was wrong with you. So in the old days you went to a bullfight and the matadors were matadors…"
"…if you sit with the older men at the café you know there are no good bullfighters now either; they are all children without honor, skill or virtue, much the same as those children who now play football, a feeble game it has become, on the high-school team and nothing like the great, mature, sophisticated athletes in canvas-elbowed jerseys, smelling vinegary from sweated shoulder pads, carrying leather headguards, their moleskins clotted with mud, that walked on leather-cleated shoes that printed in the earth along beside the sidewalk in the dusk, a long time ago.
There were always giants in those days…" show less
Quotes:
On change (and writing):
"I know things change now and I do not care. It’s all been changed for me. Let it all change. We’ll all be gone before it’s changed too much and if no deluge comes when we are gone it still will rain in show more summer in the north and hawks will still nest in the Cathedral at Santiago and in La Granja…We never will ride back from Toledo in the dark, washing the dust out with Fundador, nor will there be that week of what happened in the night in that July in Madrid. We’ve seen it all go and we’ll watch it go again. The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before; and not too damned much after."
On courage:
"If qualities have odors the odor of courage to me is the smell of smoked leather or the smell of a frozen road or the smell of the sea when the wind rips the top from a wave, but the valor of Luis Freg did not have that odor. It was clotted and heavy…"
On death:
"There is no lonelier man in death, except the suicide, than that man who has lived many years with a good wife and then outlived her. If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it."
On living in the now:
"Within our time the scientists may well abolish these old diseases and we’ll live to see the end of all morality. But meantime I would rather dine on suckling pig at Botin’s than sit and think of casualties my friends have suffered."
On suicide, certainly poignant given Hemingway's end:
"It seemed a crime to keep him alive and he would have been much luckier to have died soon after the fight while he still had control of himself and still possessed his courage rather than to have gone through the progressive horror of physical and spiritual humiliation that the long enough continued bearing of unbearable pain produces. … But as long as man is regarded as having an immortal soul and doctors will keep him alive through times when death would seem the greatest gift one man could give another, then the horses and the bulls will seem well taken care of and man to run the greatest risk."
On the younger generation:
"In the old days you went to a doctor and he fixed up, or tried to fix up, whatever was wrong with you. So in the old days you went to a bullfight and the matadors were matadors…"
"…if you sit with the older men at the café you know there are no good bullfighters now either; they are all children without honor, skill or virtue, much the same as those children who now play football, a feeble game it has become, on the high-school team and nothing like the great, mature, sophisticated athletes in canvas-elbowed jerseys, smelling vinegary from sweated shoulder pads, carrying leather headguards, their moleskins clotted with mud, that walked on leather-cleated shoes that printed in the earth along beside the sidewalk in the dusk, a long time ago.
There were always giants in those days…" show less
This is a re-read for me. I first read this many years ago, probably in the early aughts when I was reading all the books by the ex-pat writers in Paris in the 1920s. I remember I enjoyed it, despite my lack of interest in the subject matter, and since I'm rereading all my Hemingway books, this was next on the list.
Well. This time it is DNF.
On one hand, I'm impressed by the depth of detail that EH put into this work. It is truly a labor of love. But the cultural artifact he is describing is a century old. And at this time in my life I'm less inclined to spend time on books that don't have any intrinsic interest for me, even if I do like the writing style.
With all respect to Spain and its rich culture, bullfighting seems like a cruel show more anachronism. I'm more sensitive to things like animal cruelty, racism, sexism, etc. in literature than when I was younger. Three stars for the writing, the research, and the passion. But for me it's almost unreadable. show less
Well. This time it is DNF.
On one hand, I'm impressed by the depth of detail that EH put into this work. It is truly a labor of love. But the cultural artifact he is describing is a century old. And at this time in my life I'm less inclined to spend time on books that don't have any intrinsic interest for me, even if I do like the writing style.
With all respect to Spain and its rich culture, bullfighting seems like a cruel show more anachronism. I'm more sensitive to things like animal cruelty, racism, sexism, etc. in literature than when I was younger. Three stars for the writing, the research, and the passion. But for me it's almost unreadable. show less
This is a book that I read in an effort to understand Hemingway's mind, not his art as a novelist. t was the last step in my journey away from his work. He was obcessed with his own "Manliness", and had little real desire to see human nature as complex and compelling. this is not what I am interested in, as egotism of this depth is seldom seen since Hemingway's generation. I am glad interest in his novels seems to be fading away. The short biographies of the matadors of his day are mildly interesting, and the image he had of the Spanish cnaracter appears to be not very applicable to the latin world today. All in all, this is an interesting artifact but limited in appeal.
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"Bull-fighting, one infers, became a hobby with Mr. Hemingway because of the light it throws on Spain, on human nature and on life and death . . . . Action and conversation, as the author himself suggests, are his best weapons. To the degree that he dilutes them with philosophy and exposition he weakens himself."
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Author Information
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Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in the family home in Oak Park, Ill., on July 21, 1899. In high school, Hemingway enjoyed working on The Trapeze, his school newspaper, where he wrote his first articles. Upon graduation in the spring of 1917, Hemingway took a job as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. After a short stint in the U.S. Army as a show more volunteer Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy, Hemingway moved to Paris, and it was here that Hemingway began his well-documented career as a novelist. Hemingway's first collection of short stories and vignettes, entitled In Our Time, was published in 1925. His first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, the story of American and English expatriates in Paris and on excursion to Pamplona, immediately established him as one of the great prose stylists and preeminent writers of his time. In this book, Hemingway quotes Gertrude Stein, "You are all a lost generation," thereby labeling himself and other expatriate writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, and Ford Madox Ford. Other novels written by Hemingway include: A Farewell To Arms, the story, based in part on Hemingway's life, of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse; For Whom the Bell Tolls, the story of an American who fought, loved, and died with the guerrillas in the mountains of Spain; and To Have and Have Not, about an honest man forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West. Non-fiction includes Green Hills of Africa, Hemingway's lyrical journal of a month on safari in East Africa; and A Moveable Feast, his recollections of Paris in the Roaring 20s. In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novella, The Old Man and the Sea. A year after being hospitalized for uncontrolled high blood pressure, liver disease, diabetes, and depression, Hemingway committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Ernest Hemingway has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Awards and Honors
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Belongs to Publisher Series
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Is contained in
A Farewell to Arms / For Whom the Bell Tolls / The Sun Also Rises / Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Death in the Afternoon
- Original title
- Death in the Afternoon
- Original publication date
- 1932, Charles Scribner’s Sons; 1947, 1. ed. it., Saggi Einaudi
- Important places
- Madrid, Spain; Spain
- Dedication
- to Pauline
- First words
- At the first bullfight I ever went to I expected to be horrified and perhaps sickened by what I had been told would happen to the horses.
- Quotations
- I believe, after experience and observation, that those people who identify themselves with animals, that is, the almost professional lovers of dogs, and other beasts, are capable of greater cruelty to human beings than those... (show all) who do not identify themselves readily with animals.
The matador, from living every day with death, becomes very detached, the measure of his detachment of course is the measure of his imagination and always on the days of the fight and finally during the whole end of the seaso... (show all)n, there is a detached something in their minds that you can almost see. What is there is death and you cannot deal in it each day and know each day there is a chance of receiving it without having it make a very plain mark. It makes this mark on every one.
There is sometimes a long time between great ones and those that have known the former great ones rarely recognise the new ones when they come. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)To see bullfights in November or December, Mexico City is the place.
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