--- description: "[In] in the second week of July, Pamplona becomes bull-mad" title: Running of the Bulls in Pamplona: Read a Hemingway-Era Account image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde66e41b3e22fc89/698855ae35ba6f4eb0c0ddd6/pamplona.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read a Hemingway-Era Account of the Running of the Bulls  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 6, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  The Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, known as 'the running of the bulls' or 'el encierro', circa 1930 The Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, known as 'the running of the bulls' or 'el encierro', circa 1930FPG / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 6, 2015 11:00 AM CUT The festival of San Fermin has been held in Pamplona, Spain, for centuries and the annual event is still the area’s claim to fame. Of the many components of the days-long event, which begins on Monday this year, the running of the bulls (which starts Tuesday) is the most famous part—and, thanks to Ernest Hemingway’s _The Sun Also Rises_, the early 20th century is perhaps its most famous era. The novel concerns—as TIME phrased it in the [original 1926 book review](http://time.com/vault/issue/1926-11-01/page/50/ "undefined")—the”semi-humorous love tragedy of an insatiable young English War widow and an unmanned U. S. soldier” and takes place in “prizefights, bars, bedrooms, \[and\] bullrings in France and Spain.” In 1932, TIME covered the running (or, rather, “driving”) of the bulls. Though the magazine didn’t employ Hemingway’s terse declarations or calculated repetition, it painted a picture of the world that inspired the author’s story: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Pamplona’s Encierros](http://time.com/vault/issue/1932-07-11/page/22/ "undefined") ### Hemingway in Cuba, 1952: Portrait of a Legend in Decline  Ernest Hemingway in Cuba August 1952 Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ernest Hemingway chats with fellow patrons at a cafe he enjoyed frequenting in Cuba, 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ernest Hemingway at home in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  An image from a contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  An image from a contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Cojimar, a Cuban fishing village and the inspiration for the village in Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  An image from a contact sheet of Alfred Eisenstaedt's pictures of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952\. "I found some old pine stick," Eisenstaedt recalled of this scene, "a branch from a tree, and I said, 'Papa, take this, it looks very rugged, very rustic, and come up the hill.'" Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, August 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ernest Hemingway LIFE Magazine cover, September 1, 1952. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3930827/hemingway-running-of-the-bulls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3930827/hemingway-running-of-the-bulls/"},"headline":"Read a Hemingway-Era Account of the Running of the Bulls","datePublished":"2015-07-06T11:00:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:53.892Z","description":"\"[In] in the second week of July, Pamplona becomes bull-mad\"","url":"https://time.com/3930827/hemingway-running-of-the-bulls/","keywords":["Books","Holidays"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde66e41b3e22fc89/698855ae35ba6f4eb0c0ddd6/pamplona.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde66e41b3e22fc89/698855ae35ba6f4eb0c0ddd6/pamplona.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pamplona Encierro","caption":"Pamplona Encierro","creditText":"FPG / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3930827/hemingway-running-of-the-bulls/","name":"Read a Hemingway-Era Account of the Running of the Bulls"}}]}] ```