Hemingway's Private Campaign Against Barnaby Conrad and 'Matador'
In June 1952, letters from Ernest Hemingway at Finca Vigía disclose a targeted effort against novelist Barnaby Conrad. On June 4, Hemingway informed Harvey Breit that he could not evaluate Conrad's 'Matador' until he had read it. However, by June 11, he labeled Conrad a fraud, referencing the 'Entrada por invitación' line in the author's photo. Hemingway requested Breit to keep the letter confidential and criticized Conrad to Scribner's editors for over five years. Unbeknownst to him, Conrad sent letters expressing admiration. Born in Hillsborough, California, Conrad studied art in Mexico City, fought bulls, and served as a vice-consul in Spain. 'Matador' became a bestseller in 1952. Hemingway passed away in 1961, and biographer Carlos Baker later shared the letters with Conrad.
Key facts
- Hemingway wrote to Harvey Breit of the Times Book Review on June 4 and June 11, 1952, from Finca Vigía near Havana
- Hemingway called Conrad the 'Gentleman Calf-Sticker' and the 'Dean Acheson of bull fighting'
- Conrad fought about thirty times as Niño de California, ten on programs with Juan Belmonte
- Conrad was posted to Spain as a vice-consul in late 1943 and left at the end of 1945
- 'The Innocent Villa' was published in 1948 and 'Matador' in 1952, becoming a best-seller
- Hemingway disparaged Conrad to Wallace Meyer, Rupert Bellville, Fanny Butcher, Leonard Lyons, and C. W. Wilcox
- Hemingway's 'The Dangerous Summer' ran in Life in 1960 and blamed Manolete for debasing bullfighting
- Conrad told a reporter in 1991 that Hemingway was 'extremely jealous I had fought bulls and written about it'
Entities
Artists
- Ernest Hemingway
- Barnaby Conrad
- Harvey Breit
- John Dos Passos
- John Steinbeck
- Juan Belmonte
- Manolete
- Wallace Meyer
- Rupert Bellville
- Fanny Butcher
- Leonard Lyons
- C. W. Wilcox
- Maxwell Perkins
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Donald Ogden Stewart
- Gerald Murphy
- José Luis Castillo-Puche
- Hadley Hemingway
- Mary Hemingway
- Max Eastman
- James Jones
- Sherwood Anderson
- Gertrude Stein
- William Faulkner
- Carlos Baker
- Maera
Institutions
- The New Yorker
- Times Book Review
- Scribner's
- Scribner's Bookstore
- Chicago Tribune
- New York Post
- Life
- State Department
- Yale University
- V-12 Navy College Training Program
- Toronto Star Weekly
Locations
- Havana
- Cuba
- Finca Vigía
- Spain
- Pamplona
- Seville
- Hillsborough
- California
- San Francisco
- Mexico City
- Carpinteria
- United States