interventions: The Death Expert
"Ernest.Hemingway- a self proclaimed authority on bull-fighting as in “The Sun Also Rises addresses that peculiarly Latin sport in his new book. Mr. Hemingway says that he has seen fifteen hundred bulls killed on the field of honor. Bull-fighting became a hobby with Mr. Hemingway because of the light it throws on Spain, on human nature and on life and death. But the author's fundamental motive is perhaps this: "The only place where you could see life and death, i. e., violent death now that the wars were over, was in the bull ring and I wanted very much to go to Spain where I could study it. I was trying to learn to write, commencing with the simplest things, and one of the simplest things of all and the most fundamental is violent death."
Bull-fighting always means death for the bull, for if he is not killed in the arena during the allotted time he is killed outside. It means death for horses used in bullfighting, as well . It sometimes means death for the matador. Moreover, it means that a good matador must actually enjoy killing and that the spectators must be able to derive an emotional kick from the operation."
As Hemingway puts it: "He [the matador] must have a spiritual enjoyment of the moment of killing. Killing cleanly and in a way which gives you aesthetic pleasure and pride has always been one of the greatest enjoyments of a part of the human race.
Once you accept the rule of death thou shalt not kill is an easily and naturally obeyed commandment. But when a man is still in rebellion against death he has pleasure in talking to himself one of the Godlike attributes, that of giving it. This is one of the most profound feelings in those men who enjoy killing. These things are done in pride and pride, of course, is a Christian sin and a pagan virtue. But it is pride which makes the bull-fight and true enjoyment of killing…
Extracted from a review by R.L. Duffus; Hemingway Now Writes of Bull-Fighting as an Art, the New York Times, September 25, 1932
unsanctioned intervention: New York City, 2023
materials: acrylic paint, ink, archival paper (26 X 19 inches)
