Word: novilleros
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...Arles each year. Few emerge successful. But Savalli's instructor, Paco Leal, saw something in the boy that set him apart. "Mehdi had a lot of ambition," says Leal. "And with ambition you can overcome all kinds of other things." Today, Savalli is one of the highest-ranked novilleros (apprentice bullfighters) in Spain. Last year, he received the grisly honor of 52 ears and two tails during his 34 fights, as well as the Golden Shoe award, perhaps the greatest achievement for a novillero. This year he is again poised to rank near the top before becoming a fully fledged...
...Could you comprehend, Papa, that this Chartres of the taurine religion was filled only once in 16 days, and then only because three top matadors were crowded together in undignified fashion on the program? Other days, sprinkles of faithful filled the arena instead, with strident three-syllable screams of "Novillero!" (Novice) hurled at inept performers. Or, in ultimate insult, they turned their backs on the orange sand to wave their tickets in rage at the corrida president...
After taking in his first bullfight. Tourist Jack Paar, 42, hastened to a ranch outside Madrid to film his own version of the corrida-with a cow. But once Novillero Paar had made his classic entrance, a wag decided to cow him with a substitute, a real toro-a dilemma on whose horns the comedian had no desire to be impaled. Not realizing that his foe was a specially trained, docile beast, Jumping Jack bolted for the barrera but, unfortunately, he didn't quite clear it. His award: no ears, no tail, no hoofs, two bruised ribs...
...dedication, and death, in a bullfight--would be bad enough if the story were well-handled. But the author seems to have almost no control. Every possible detail and almost all the conceivable eventualities of a bullfight are crammed into the story, completely obscuring the character of the novillero who achieves his consummation in death. Besides this retailing of tauromachian local-color, Fisher afflicts his readers with a stiff, unrealistic dialogue (including some unconvincing, garrulous pre-fight speeches by the matador). Add to this a number of much mouthed moralizations on the art and significance of bullfighting and you have...
...come from the most septic sources in Spain: the third-rate bull rings. In the past, many toreros lost a leg or died from common wound infections after being gored by a bull, but now the smallest arena has a first-aid squad armed with a penicillin syringe. One novillero last week put it in terms that, in Spain, were high praise indeed: "Thanks to Fleming. I can stand closer to the bull...