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'Whether or not the artistic quality of the bullfight outweighs the moral question of the animals' suffering is something that each person must decide for themselves - as they must decide whether the taste of a steak justifies the death of a cow. But if we ignore the possibility that one does outweigh the other, we fall foul of the charge of self-deceit and incoherence in our dealings with animals.' Alexander Fiske-Harrison In a remarkable and controversial book Fiske-Harrison follows the tracks of a whole bullfighting year in Spain. He trains and takes part in the sport himself. He gives us memorable portraits of bull-fighters and bulls, of owners, trainers and fans - of a whole country. Fiske-Harrison offers a fully rounded and involving portrait of an art as performed for centuries and of the arguments that dog it today.
"In this book, the author examines the character oft he fighting bull, how it is bred, the career of the matador, and what actually happens during bullfights, relating these facts to deeply rooted cultural concerns including the relationship between human and animal and the concern with masculine identity." -- BACK COVER.
Bullfighting has long been perceived as an antiquated, barbarous legacy from Spain's medieval past. In fact, many of that country's best poets, philosophers, and intellectuals have accepted the corrida as the embodiment of Spain's rejection of the modern world. In his brilliant new interpretation of bullfighting, Adrian Shubert maintains that this view is both the product of myth and a complete misunderstanding of the real roots of the contemporary bullfight. While references to a form of bullfighting date back to the Poem of the Cid (1040), the modern bullfight did not emerge until the early 18th century. And when it did emerge, it was far from being an archaic remnant of the past--it was a...
Bullfighting - the ultimate spectator sport. Acclaimed novelist A. L. Kennedy unpeels the layers and explains the mechanics before dissecting them with surgical precision. Beyond the theatre, the costume and the well-worn plot she focuses on the fact that a man faces his death while a crowd looks on. The result is a startling confrontation with her own, and mankind's, mortality.
An examination of the world of the Matador. Journeying across Spain, the author interviews Matadors from the top and bottom of the profession, looks at the cut-throat world of the bull breeders and witnesses the Pamplona Festival, where both animals and men have been killed in recent years.
An account of the spectacle of bull fighting: its technique, its present heroes, its resplendent history, its place in the world. It is also a work about Spain and the Spanish soul.
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This book investigates the popularity and success of contemporary women performers in bullfighting culture, which has been framed by a discourse of 'traditionalist' masculinity. This examination of the changing situation of women in the bullfighting world is used to explore the ways in which gender is represented, enacted and negotiated in contemporary Spain. The bullfight in the 1990s is in an ambiguous position: it is a 'traditional' performance in a changing consumer society. In order to survive, it needs to adapt itself to a wider social context and, in particular, to international media coverage. It is in this context that the current success of women performers is located. However, wom...
Describing how public animal slaughter came to occupy a central place in Spanish culture, this study attempts to unravel the strands of religion, class conflict, nationalism, political corruption and machismo that make bullfighting a microcosm of Spanish society.