In "Blood Sport", Timothy Mitchell describes how public animal slaughter came to occupy a central place in the world view of one Western nation. Unlike books that romanticize matadors or mystify their "art", "Blood Sport" restores bullfighting to its social and historical context. It explores both the primitive passions of rural fiestas and the harsh process of selection that lies behind the urban bullfight as we know it today. The text attempts to unravel the strands of religion, class conflict, nationalism, political corruption and machismo that make bullfighting a microcosm of Spanish society. The physical and psychological trauma of matadors are also probed, and an engrossing discussion of blood sport in ancient Rome enables the reader to grasp the "pornographic" fascination that bullfighting holds for masses of spectators.
- ISBN10 0812231295
- ISBN13 9780812231298
- Publish Date 29 January 1991 (first published 1 January 1991)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 20 March 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Pennsylvania Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 288
- Language English