Looking for Hemingway

Spain, the Bullfights, and a Final Rite of Passage

Tony Castro

In 1959, the most famous literary figure of his time set out in the twilight of his life to recapture his early success in the 1920s. The experience tested all the credos of bravery and grace under pressure he had lived by.

Just months before turning sixty, Ernest Hemingway headed for Spain to write a new epilogue for his bullfighting classic Death in the Afternoon, as well as an article for Life magazine. His hosts were Bill and Anne Davis, wealthy Americans in pursuit of the avant-garde life of the 1920s’ post-war expatriates, who lavishly entertained celebrities and the literati, from Noel Coward to Laurence Olivier, at their historic villa, La Consula. This hacienda would become Hemingway’s home during the most pivotal months of the Nobel laureate’s denouement, and Bill Davis—fellow adventurer who had survived the Depression running arms during the Spanish Civil War—would become his friend and bullfight-traveling companion.

Looking for Hemingway explores that incredible friendship and offers a rare intimate look into the final period of the legendary author’s life, giving comprehension not only of a writer’s despair but of suicide as a not unreasonable conclusion to a blasted existence.

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-1822-2 • eBook • November 2016 • $18.00 • (£13.95)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures, History / United States / 20th Century

Looking for Hemingway

Spain, the Bullfights, and a Final Rite of Passage

eBook

Summary

In 1959, the most famous literary figure of his time set out in the twilight of his life to recapture his early success in the 1920s. The experience tested all the credos of bravery and grace under pressure he had lived by.

Just months before turning sixty, Ernest Hemingway headed for Spain to write a new epilogue for his bullfighting classic Death in the Afternoon, as well as an article for Life magazine. His hosts were Bill and Anne Davis, wealthy Americans in pursuit of the avant-garde life of the 1920s’ post-war expatriates, who lavishly entertained celebrities and the literati, from Noel Coward to Laurence Olivier, at their historic villa, La Consula. This hacienda would become Hemingway’s home during the most pivotal months of the Nobel laureate’s denouement, and Bill Davis—fellow adventurer who had survived the Depression running arms during the Spanish Civil War—would become his friend and bullfight-traveling companion.

Looking for Hemingway explores that incredible friendship and offers a rare intimate look into the final period of the legendary author’s life, giving comprehension not only of a writer’s despair but of suicide as a not unreasonable conclusion to a blasted existence.

Details

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-1822-2 • eBook • November 2016 • $18.00 • (£13.95)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures, History / United States / 20th Century

Author

Tony Castro is a historian, Hemingway scholar, journalist, and author of multiple books including the best-selling Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son, hailed by The New York Times as the definitive biography about the baseball Hall of Fame legend. A former national correspondent for The Washington Post, Castro has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Observer, and Sports Illustrated. He was given a special tour of La Finca Vigía, Hemingway’s home in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, arranged for him by Fidel Castro in 1967, was among the first to view the collection of Hemingway papers opened to researchers by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and has long known screenwriter Teo Davis, the son of Bill and Anne Davis, the American expatriates who hosted Hemingway’s last visits to Spain. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son] is the best biography ever written of the Yankee legend.
— The New York Times

Tony Castro's powerful, touching song of praise and lament for Mickey Mantle defines the the forces that made the Oklahoma miner's son an American icon.
— Sporting News

Looking for Hemingway

Spain, the Bullfights, and a Final Rite of Passage

Tony Castro

Looking for Hemingway

Spain, the Bullfights, and a Final Rite of Passage

ALSO AVAILABLE