The Real Thing?: Representing the Bullfight and Spain in Death in the Afternoon by Peter Messent

Transcription

1 The Real Thig?: Represetig the Bullfight ad Spai i Death i the Afteroo by Peter Messet Hemigway does t give us the real thig i the book; istead he gives us his versio of it Phrase used several times (both about bullfightig ad writig) Also, prevalece of words such as true, pure, hoest, sicere, etc. Search for autheticity throughout the book 1

2 Differet View Hemigway s versio differet from that of most other foreig critics: Charles Dudley Warer writig i 1883 described it as barbaric ad demoic British ewspaper i 2000: with 10,000 licesed matadors i the coutry, it will be a few years yet before the Spaish joi the rest of the huma race ad decide that torturig ad killig aimals for fu is o way to behave 2

3 Iside/Outside Poit-of-View Audiece is the tourist Hemigway writig iitially from a outsider perspective Tells us his expectatios for his first bullfight, which might match our ow expectatios But moves to positio of isider --afficiaado Old Lady as his pupil So, a kid of guidebook or traslatio (Especially true i glossary that eds the book) 3

4 Yet, Difficulty of Traslatio Hemigway always straddles cultures, mediates betwee them He ackowledges that such cultural traslatio is difficult: discussio of the word suerte p. 16: the shortest term to use, but has cofusig cootatios p. 96: multiple defiitios of the word; ay traslatio must be arbitrary 4

5 Leads to a Cotradictio Hemigway tries to say oly what s true about bullfightig (p. 2) what he really feels as opposed to what he s supposed to feel Yet, at times, he himself ackowledges the subjective ature of his accout his ow iability to get at defiitive truth 5

6 Writig about a Foreig Culture Aytime we examie a text writte about a foreig culture, we eed to be aware of the way the ideology of the writer affects his or her presetatio of the foreig culture. Hemigway s Americaess affects his presetatio of Spai 6

7 Spai as the Cultural Other For Hemigway (accordig to Messet), Spai stads i as the Cultural Other Spai supplies the wholeess the America tourist is lookig for ad feels that he is missig i his ow culture 7

8 Athropologist James Clifford The moderized idividual experieces a sese of pervasive social fragmetatio Thus, searches for a object of wholeess to relieve this feelig The cultural other represets this wholeess, but must be defied as a thig of the past primitive, rural a fictio 8

9 Hemigway ad America May eutral comparisos betwee America ad Spai i the book Bilbao gets as hot as St. Louis A trai ride through Spai passes through coutry as bald ad bare as the badlads i November Yet, more iterestig ways that Spai becomes the healthy yardstick agaist which a diseased America is measured 9

10 America vs. Spai Whe Hemigway describes the moder comforts of America, such as a bathtub i every home (p. 266), he suggests the poverty of a materialistic culture that represses ay kowledge of, or itelliget iterest i the taboo subject of death. I cotrast, Spaish attitudes are preseted as mature: "they are iterested i death ad do ot sped their lives avoidig the thought of it ad hopig it does ot exist oly to discover it whe they come to die" (264). 10

11 Moderity Mai thrust of the book to describe Spai i terms of a rural, primitive wholeess, which, i Hemigway s view, ca still be idetified ad celebrated eve it may be disappearig Hemigway turs his back o moderity ad its effects, particularly o WWI ad the physical ad psychological damage (ad fragmetatio) associated with it 11

12 WWI i the Book Whe Hemigway remembers WWI, emphasis is o literally fragmeted bodies pp : Wome at the muitios factory p. 137: Takes o pose of a aturalist describig dead bodies 12

13 Differet types of death The radom violece ad grotesque forms of death that mark moder warfare are implicitly, the, measured agaist the risk, ad form ad fuctio, of death withi the major art form that Hemigway sees the bullfight to be (Messet). I other words, for Hemigway, death is meaigful i bullfightig it is death with ritual ad beauty attached 13

14 Fragmetatio i WWI I A Farewell to Arms, Catherie Barkley says about her first sweetheart: They blew him all to bits. Emphasis here o fragmetatio But also o passivity 14

15 Heroism Possible i Bullfightig The bullfighter, by cotrast, is active ad heroic He must domiate the bull He cotrols death by givig death to the bull, but also by decidig how close to work to the bull, thus riskig his ow death Plays out a aciet, mythic drama: the beast is mastered, the killed by the hero 15

16 Religious Aspect Bullfightig is associated with religious festivals (as we saw i The Su Also Rises) Waitig for a ew, good bullfighter like waitig for a Messiah (p. 86) Supplies the religious belief missig i moder world 16

17 Tourists Ievitably Alter the Places they Visit Hemigway writes, "The bullfight is a Spaish istitutio; it has ot existed because of the foreigers ad tourists, but always i spite of them" (8) Yet, seems uaware of his ow ifluece i turig the bullfight ito a mass tourist veue 17

18 Messet s Coclusios However itesely ivolved Hemigway did become with Spai, that ivolvemet remaied i some sese ecessarily biased ad icomplete The versio of "the real thig," the real Spai, real bullfightig, with which he presets us is ofte highly accurate i its details I its larger outlie, however--the maer i which it is described ad the sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit cultural cotrasts that are draw his accout must be judged, to some cosiderable degree, a fictioal ad subjective versio of "reality 18