James Michener and Bull Fights

I’ve been revisiting a couple of my favorite writers from college days (a long time ago). Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. I’ve recently read Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Recently someone left Hemingway’s The Dangerous Summer on the sale table at the local library. The book is about the temporada or season of two bullfighters who tour mano a mano or each man fighting three bulls. This is a re-issue and comes with a wonderful introduction by James Michener. The intro is long and much of it reveals that Michener probably knew as much about bullfighting as did Hemingway. It is very perceptive about the nuances of the art. I may catch some flack for this blog but I’ve been interested in the bullfight for a long time. Paul Gallico said in a very early article when Sports Illustrated first came on the scene - it may have been the very first issue - that there were only three sports: mountain climbing, auto racing, and bullfighting. All the rest were merely recreations. His reasons: these three were the only ones where one risked death. I’m anxious to get to Hemingway’s text but I will be sad when I come to the end of Michener’s long introduction.