Author Description

Bullfighting is the vivid focus of this absorbing portrait of Spain--a nation poised ambivalently on the cusp between past and future. The Last Serious Thing is about the spectacle of bullfighting: its technique, its present heroes, its resplendent history, its place in the world. But it is also a probing work about Spain and the Spanish soul--a book as deeply perceptive as any by Bruce Chatwin or Jan Morris. Set in the historic city of Seville, now poised to be. Transformed by the events of 1992--the Spanish Olympics, the World's Fair, the new unified market of Europe--The Last Serious Thing sweeps the reader into the spectacular pageantry of bullfighting--the romantic, deadly art that to countless proud Spaniards symbolizes all that is best and bravest about their country. As we learn the history and lore of the toreo and meet the array of matadors who command modern bullfighting, we see the ongoing conflict between the future. And the past in today's Spain. Modernists call for an abolition of the bullfight, for they believe a united Europe will scorn Spain as long as this barbaric relic endures. Traditionalists fear a homogenized Europe, a Spain transformed by economic unification and ultra-rapid communication. To them, the very soul of Spain is at risk. They believe, as Federico Garcia Lorca said, that "the bullfight is the last serious thing"--Spain's last hope for preserving what is truly. Spanish in character. A talented and versatile writer, Bruce Schoenfeld populates these pages with unforgettable people. There is Espartaco, the most successful matador in Spain today, who is as lionized by the young as any international rock star but who longs for the respect he has yet to earn from the purists. There is Litri, a fourth-generation bullfighter, beginning his career with the face of a movie idol but with the uncertainty of a newcomer. There is Paquirri. Who was gored and killed seven years ago but whose invincible legend lives on. And there is John Fulton, the American matador from Philadelphia, who, at fifty-seven, still harbors dreams of feats and fame. Alive with colorful figures and fascinating insights, The Last Serious Thing is the first portrait of modern bullfighting--and of a city and nation at a pivotal moment in history.