Bullfighting and the ultimate Andalucia guidebook

In response to popular demand I feel compelled to post something on the subject of bullfighting. There is however one small problem.  With Michele being vegetarian and an animal lover, my chances of getting to a bullfight on this trip are approximately zero.

The nearest we have actually got to a bullfight was this tauromachy themed restaurant in Cordoba.  As you can imagine, the decor was not really to Michele's taste:

Not sure how Madonna found her way into this sword exhibit:

For me facing a raging bull would be terrifying enough, without having to tie yourself down with an elaborate uniform:

Michele was a good sport and just about managed a smile through gritted teeth while surrounded by all this evidence of Spanish "bloodlust":

Thus any wisdom I have to impart, is gained second hand from my favourite guide to the region, the recently departed Michael Jacobs and his book "Andalucia":

Michael Jacobs was a fascinating person in his own right - here is the link to the Telegraph's obituary:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10579764/Michael-Jacobs-obituary.html

I would have loved to have met Michael Jacobs.  I would argue that he is the only person with the necessary qualities to write a truly authoritative guide to the different facets of Andalucia, from its sublime art to its orgiastic religious festivals.  He was a true intellectual having gained his History of Art doctorate from the Courtauld Institute.  His formidable intellect was matched only by his formidable constitution.  This was a man who could - and did - party all night while writing all day.  He succeeded in getting 27 books  on travel and art published.

At the start of the guide book he sets himself the goal of producing an account that is "discursive,opinionated and idiosyncratic".  He hit the ball out of the park on all three counts.  Jacobs has a deep distrust of Romantic writing about the region.  One of the books he cites with much approval is "Unromantic Spain" by Mario Praz (1928).

He is clear sightedly aware of the imperfections of the natives.  However, time and time again he gains the trust of the locals, over numerous brandies at 4 in the morning.  He rewards that trust with an affectionate writing style that somehow reconciles the reader to all the Andalucian foibles and follies.

Here is what his book has to say about bullfighting:

'...there are countless books in English on bullfighting, generally written in an emotional, macho vein by those who claim to have a unique insight into the sport: two of the most famous are by Ernest Hemingway and the drama critic Kenneth Tynan, both of whom, incidentally, had relatively little experience of Seville's Maestranza. What you rarely read about is that the great majority of the fights are very poor in quality, and that bull fighting today has lost much of its former greatness.  One of the reasons for the decline might be that the desire to escape from poverty was once the main spur to the matador, and that extreme poverty of this kind is no longer so widespread in Spain....

Curro Romero, in his late 60s but still fighting, is a living legend who already has a street named after him in the precinct of Seville's Feria. As cowardly as Espartaco is brave, he has been known to go to prison for his refusal to kill a particularly dangerous bull (failure to kill a bull constitutes a breach in the bull fighter's contract).  It is said that you never see Curro fight badly, for he either fights well, or not at all...in 1989 the front page of the sporting paper 'ABC' bore the banner headline 'CURRO FOUGHT' "