Books: Matador

GLITTERING DEATH—Joseph Peyre— Random House ($2.50).

In Mexico and South America bullfighting still goes on. But for matadors those countries have always been mere provinces. In Spain, the land where bulls are much more than bulls and matadors a little more than men, 1937 promised to be the worst season in history. Gripped by the passion of civil war, Spain had little time or temper for its national “sport.” But to many an aficionado, the great days of bullfighting had already gone over the horizon with Joselito and Belmonte, long before the civil war closed most of the bull rings. To observers with long memories and high standards, bullfighting had become decadent: its matadors were virtuosos, its backers venal, its public vulgar. Against this modern (1934) background of decadence Joseph Peyre sets his Prix Goncourt prize-winning novel of bullfighting Madrid.

Ricardo Garcia had been the sensation of his year, had won his niche in the matador’s hall of fame by his “immortal quite” (series of passes with the cape drawing the bull away from the fallen picador). But at the height of his fame & fortune, he was so badly gored in the lung that he had to quit for the season, later announced his permanent retirement. He continued to live at matador pace, scattering money like crumbs to many a hungry bird. His mistress, Marilena, was Ricardo’s greatest expense and biggest trouble. When she saw there was a bottom to his purse she used all her Central American wiles to get him back into the arena. Ricardo’s nerve was gone, so was his stamina; he hated the idea of fighting any more bulls. But finally he gave in, signed a contract for two fights. The first, in the provinces, was near disastrous. The second, in his own city of Madrid, finished him forever.