The annual fiesta devoted to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain begins today.American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) made this event famous in his 1926 book, The Sun Also Rises.
Toro! (or Run for Your Life)
The annual fiesta devoted to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain begins today.American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) made this event famous in his 1926 book, The Sun Also Rises.
Hemingway wrote,
"When I woke it was the sound of the rocket exploding that announced the release of the bulls from the corrals at the edge of town. They would race through the streets and out to the bull ring. I had been sleeping heavily and I woke feeling I was too late.… Down below the narrow street was empty. All the balconies were crowded with people. Suddenly a crowd came down the street. They were all running, packed close together. They passed along and up the street toward the bull-ring and behind them came more men running faster, and then some stragglers who were really running. Behind them was a little bare space, and then the bulls galloping, tossing their heads up and down. It all went out of sight around the corner. One man fell, rolled to the gutter and lay quiet. But the bulls went right on and did not notice him. They were all running together."
Source: Ernest Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises (New York: Scribner, 1926).
Pictured: Eugenie Gershoy, 1901 Russia–1986 USA, Ill-Fated Toreador, about 1935–1939, polychromed dextrine on wood, 20 x 10 1/8 x 13 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from Museum of Modern Art.