Chaves Nogales met Juan Belmonte shortly before publishing this book, and, even though he was not a bullfighting aficionado, the two men hit it off immediately. His warmth, fighting spirit, and conciliatory mood, rare in Spanish society at the time, were some of the qualities that attracted the author and inspired him to write the famous bullfighter's biography. In the narration, the voices of the biographer and the subject blend together, so that it is difficult to discern when one begins to speak and the other stops, and ...
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Chaves Nogales met Juan Belmonte shortly before publishing this book, and, even though he was not a bullfighting aficionado, the two men hit it off immediately. His warmth, fighting spirit, and conciliatory mood, rare in Spanish society at the time, were some of the qualities that attracted the author and inspired him to write the famous bullfighter's biography. In the narration, the voices of the biographer and the subject blend together, so that it is difficult to discern when one begins to speak and the other stops, and this style makes Belmonte's memories unravel with astonishing ease: his infancy in Seville, the difficult years dedicated to learning, the picturesque aspects of the bullfighting and literary circles, fame, his rivalry with Joselito. This is the acute and faithful testimonial of an era, a masterpiece resulting from the encounter between two extraordinary people: Juan Belmonte, founder of modern bullfighting, and Chaves Nogales, one of the most important Spanish journalists of the first half of the twentieth century. Chaves Nogales hab???a conocido a Juan Belmonte poco tiempo antes de la publicaci???n del libro y, aunque no era aficionado a los toros, los dos hombres congeniaron enseguida. La calidad humana del personaje, su esp???ritu de superaci???n y su talante conciliador, raro en la crispada sociedad espa???ola de la ???poca, fueron algunas de las cualidades que atrajeron al autor y que le animaron a escribir una biograf???a del famoso torero. En la narraci???n las voces de bi???grafo y biografiado se mezclan, sin que se sepa donde empieza a hablar uno y d???nde acaba el otro, y fruto de este genial planteamiento los recuerdos de Belmonte se suceden con asombrosa naturalidad: su infancia sevillana, los a???os de dur???simo aprendizaje, el pintoresquismo de los c???rculos taurinos y literarios, la fama, su rivalidad con Joselito. ???ste es el testimonio agudo y fiel de una ???poca, una obra maestra fruto del encuentro entre dos personas extraordinarias: Juan Belmonte, fundador del toreo moderno, y Chaves Nogales, uno de los periodistas espa???oles m???s importantes de la primera mitad del siglo XX.
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