Artpress Anthology on Bullfighting and Literature

Artpress publishes 'Les arts et la tauromachie : Écrits sur la corrida', an anthology edited by Jacques Henric that collects literary excerpts on bullfighting from writers including Georges Bataille, Federico García Lorca, Ernest Hemingway, Henry de Montherlant, José Bergamín, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, Jean Cocteau, Jack-Alain Léger, André Malraux, Mario Vargas Llosa, José Tomás, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, René Char, Théophile Gautier, Laurent Tailhade, Édouard Manet, and Jean Cau. The texts span centuries, from Homeric references to 20th-century accounts, exploring the deep ties between literature and tauromachy. The anthology presents corrida as a ritual of beauty, danger, and artistic truth, with contributors reflecting on the moral, aesthetic, and existential dimensions of the bullfight. Hemingway recounts the 1959 mano a mano between Luis Miguel Dominguín and Antonio Ordóñez, including Dominguín's goring. Lorca's 'Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías' mourns the matador killed in the ring. Cocteau describes the corrida as a sacred, hypnotic union. Vargas Llosa analyzes the choreography and survival instinct in toreo. The collection also includes letters from Van Gogh and Manet, and critical perspectives on animal rights and spectacle.