The London Lounge

Like many men of my generation, I was weaned on a steady diet of Fitzgerald (hence the Gatsbyesque pretentions)...and Hemingway. I've always wanted to go see a proper corrida, in Spain.
Do any of you well-informed gents have any suggestions as to location and timing (perhaps avoiding the busiest or most high-profile venues/events)?

One plea: I understand that many abhor this spectacle but clearly this question is addressed to those who don't. Let's please not let it turn into a debate about wehther bullfights should be legal, etc.

If you are going just for the bullfights the best time and place is Madrid is during May and June for the San Isidro bullfight festival which takes place during these months and brings together the best fighters, bulls and aficionados. There are fights every day for 20 days.

If you are looking to go to a bullfight when on holiday places such as Sevilla, Algeciras, Puerto Santa Maria, Jerez and Sanlucar de Barrameda have well known bullrings with quality fighters and bulls not established for tourists and they each have their own bullfight ferias. Ronda also has a famous bullring though I have never seen a fight there.

I would say it is only worth going to the high profile fights as small rings will probably have poorer matadors and bulls and will reinforce the established Northern European view of the whole thing.

Never been to a Bullfight but I've been round the Bullring in Seville which was enormous. In the pecking order of Bullrings they see themselves as Manchester United or Chelsea ie BIG.

I think Culverwood has it right on the mark. I'll just add my encouragement to see a fight during one of the ferias (preferably San Isidro in Madrid) if you can. I lived in Madrid for a year and half in the late 1970s, while the current constitution was being written and ratified after Franco's death. I attended several corridas, and while I occasionally saw a truly beautiful fight on an ordinary Sunday, that was a rare accident of conditions and attitude.

There is in the ethos of the bullfighter (it's tempting to resort to Hemingway's "true" bullfighter) something of the ancient Greek idea of kleos - glory, fame, renown - won in battle. To that extent, it's not surprising that if a matador is going to risk death, he might be more likely to try to exert his greatest skill and art against the most magnificent adversaries before the largest and most knowledgeable audience of aficionados. That way his triumph or the nobility of his tragedy will live on in the greatest number of hearts and minds. So, whether a newcomer in the novilladas or a world-famous veteran fighting the largest*, best conformed, and best armed toros bravos, he will be more likely to give his all to create beauty, win glory, and avoid shame. While you might think that these famous ferias would be tourist sinks--and there are tourists--they are also, like sporting championships, occasions for which the real fan prepares and often reserves tickets long in advance. At least in Madrid, the leading critics and many celebrity aficionados will be among the thousands present, often including great figures of the fiesta brava from yesteryear.

There's never any guarantee that a given bullfight will not be a hopeless, sordid disappointment in which nothing beautiful or brave is accomplished. Statistically, that's a more likely outcome than something memorable. But when it rises to poetry (to quote Stevens in another context, "death is the mother of beauty"), it's unforgettable. Your odds as a spectator improve in the championship series, so look for the ferias if you can.

*regulations set minimum weights that are heavier for first-rank rings than for second- and third-rank ones

¡Salud!

Thanks, gentlemen. I just knew I could rely on your collected wisdom for some reasoned advice.
I shall try to book something for San Isidro, if it's not too late.

Since Sevilla was mentioned, the time to see bullfights there is the feria de Abril, which begins a couple of weeks after Easter (and the Semana Santa processions) and also includes the great horse fair and celebration of all things traditionally Andalucian (flamenco, horses, sherry, and horses). Also known as the spring fair, it is wildly colorful and certainly draws many tourists, though perhaps not quite so many as Holy Week. So seeing the best corridas in La Maestranza thus entails crowds in town and challenges in booking lodging, but on the other hand you'll be in the middle of quite a spectacle--it's carnavalesque. So that's another option, but one that also requires advance planning and will be helped if you can make friends with someone who has connections in the city.