Ernest Hemingway’s relationship with Spain stands as one of the most profound and enduring cultural partnerships in 20th-century literature. From his first visit in the 1920s until the final years of his life, Spain served as both muse and laboratory for his artistic development, political awakening and personal philosophy.
‘Hemingway in Spain’ examines the multifaceted nature of Hemingway’s engagement with Spain, exploring how the country transformed his writing whilst simultaneously investigating his considerable impact on Spanish culture and international perceptions of Spain.
For students of literature, understanding this relationship provides crucial insight into not merely a significant body of Hemingway’s work, but also into the development of his distinctive literary style, his political consciousness and his enduring legacy.
Hemingway in Spain: A Literary Journey
Early Encounters: The Discovery of Bullfighting
Hemingway’s introduction to Spain came through the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona, which he first attended in 1923 at the suggestion of American expatriate writer Gertrude Stein. It was here that he encountered bullfighting, an experience that would profoundly affect his artistic sensibility and philosophical outlook. His early visits occurred during Spain’s relatively peaceful period under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, allowing Hemingway to focus on cultural immersion rather than political engagement.
The bullfight, or corrida, became for Hemingway the perfect crystallisation of his emerging aesthetic and philosophical concerns. In the ritual confrontation between man and beast, he discovered a heightened form of experience that combined danger, skill and the proximity of death – all elements that would become central to his literary vision. As he wrote in “Death in the Afternoon,” “Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter’s honour.”
These experiences provided the material for his breakthrough novel, “The Sun Also Rises” (1926). The book follows a group of disillusioned expatriates who travel from Paris to Pamplona for the San Fermín festival, featuring protagonist Jake Barnes, whose war wound has left him impotent – a physical condition that serves as a metaphor for the spiritual impotence of the post-war generation. The novel captures the riotous atmosphere of the fiesta, the technical artistry of bullfighting and the stark beauty of the Spanish landscape. Critics noted how the novel’s style – spare, direct and understated – mirrored qualities Hemingway admired in Spanish culture.
“Death in the Afternoon”: The Bullfighting Treatise
Hemingway’s fascination with bullfighting culminated in “Death in the Afternoon” (1932), a work that transcends simple sports journalism to become a meditation on art, death and Spanish culture. The book combines technical analysis of bullfighting with philosophical digressions, personal anecdotes and evocative descriptions of Spain itself. Through his analysis of the corrida, Hemingway developed key aspects of his literary style, including his theory of omission (what he famously called the “iceberg theory”) and his preference for understatement in the face of dramatic events.
“Death in the Afternoon” reveals Hemingway’s attempt to extract universal principles from the particular cultural practice of bullfighting. He views the corrida as a ritual that confronts death directly, stripping away the euphemisms and evasions that characterise modern attitudes toward mortality. This stance reflected his broader admiration for what he perceived as Spanish cultural authenticity – a willingness to engage with life’s fundamental realities without pretension or sentimentality.
The Spanish concept of “afición” (passionate expertise or dedication) became central to Hemingway’s artistic philosophy. He distinguished between mere spectators and true aficionados, who possessed the knowledge and sensitivity to appreciate the corrida’s technical and aesthetic dimensions. This concept would later extend beyond bullfighting in his work to become a measure of authenticity in all areas of life – a standard by which he judged both himself and others.
The Spanish Civil War: Political Awakening
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 marked a crucial turning point in Hemingway’s relationship with Spain. What had been primarily an aesthetic and cultural engagement now acquired an urgent political dimension. As a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance, he moved from being an admiring observer to an active participant in Spanish history, covering the Republican side of the conflict with passionate commitment.
Hemingway’s support for the Republican cause demonstrated how his appreciation of Spanish culture had evolved into political engagement. He raised funds, made the propaganda film “The Spanish Earth” with Dutch director Joris Ivens and allegedly participated in some military activities despite his official role as a journalist. His dispatches from Spain combined factual reporting with personal involvement, establishing a template for the politically engaged literary journalism that would influence later writers.
This period produced “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1940), widely considered his masterpiece. Set in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains during a Republican guerrilla operation, the novel follows Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter assigned to blow up a bridge during an offensive. Through Jordan’s experiences and the Spanish characters he encounters – the peasant leader Anselmo, the fierce María, the damaged Pilar and the complicated Pablo – Hemingway creates a microcosm of the larger conflict.
The novel captures the complexity of the war whilst maintaining focus on the human elements of the conflict. His portrayal of both Republican and Nationalist characters showed a nuanced understanding that went beyond simple political allegiances. The book’s famous opening line, “He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest,” establishes the immediate physical reality that grounds all of Hemingway’s work, even as the novel grapples with weighty themes of sacrifice, camaraderie and ideological commitment.
Spanish Landscapes and Literary Style
Spain’s physical landscape – from the dusty plains of Castile to the mountains of Navarra – profoundly influenced Hemingway’s literary sensibility. His descriptions of Spanish terrain often serve multiple purposes: establishing setting, revealing character and creating symbolic resonance. In “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” the mountainous landscape becomes both a tactical environment for military operations and a symbolic space representing the moral high ground of the Republican cause.
Hemingway’s famously sparse prose style bears the imprint of his Spanish experiences. The direct, unadorned sentences mirror what he admired as a Spanish cultural tendency toward understatement. His dialogue, often praised for its authenticity, frequently attempts to capture the rhythms and patterns of Spanish speech translated into English. In “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” he even employs literal translations of Spanish profanity, rendering them as “obscenity” or “unprintable” to maintain their linguistic character whilst avoiding censorship.
This stylistic influence extended to his handling of time. The Spanish emphasis on the present moment – evident in the intensity of the bullfight or the immediate concerns of wartime survival – reinforced Hemingway’s literary focus on immediate physical experience rather than extended psychological introspection. His characters live intensely in the present tense, a quality that gives his work its characteristic urgency and directness.
Cultural Impact: Redefining Spain for the World
Hemingway’s influence on Spain’s international image proved profound and lasting. Through his writing, he transformed local traditions into global attractions, particularly the San Fermín festival, which now draws thousands of international tourists annually. Establishments he frequented, such as Madrid’s Cervecería Alemana (where he had his own table), Café Iruña in Pamplona and Restaurante Botín (recognised by Guinness as the world’s oldest restaurant), became literary pilgrimage sites. This “Hemingway trail” continues to shape tourism patterns in Spain today.
His interpretation of Spanish concepts introduced these ideas to international audiences, creating cultural bridges between Spain and the English-speaking world. Terms like “pundonor” (point of honour) and “afición” gained currency beyond Spanish borders through his work. His descriptions of Spanish rituals and traditions, particularly bullfighting, provided foreign readers with a framework for understanding aspects of Spanish culture that might otherwise have remained obscure or misunderstood.
However, this cultural impact had complex implications. Critics have noted that Hemingway’s Spain was partly a construction that reflected his own preoccupations and idealised certain aspects of Spanish culture at the expense of others. His focus on traditional, rural Spain sometimes overlooked the country’s modernising elements and intellectual traditions. Some Spanish intellectuals have criticised what they saw as a romanticised, occasionally reductive view of their culture – what might be termed the “Hemingway effect.”
Nevertheless, his evident love for the country helped counter negative stereotypes about Spain that had persisted since the “Black Legend” of Spanish cruelty and backwardness emerged in the 16th century. He presented Spain not as an exotic or primitive place, but as a country with profound traditions and values worthy of respect and understanding.
Spanish Social Circles: Friendships and Influences
Hemingway’s engagement with Spain was mediated through a wide range of personal relationships that shaped his understanding of the country. His friendships with bullfighters provided insight into a world that was typically closed to outsiders. He developed particularly close relationships with Antonio Ordóñez, considered one of the greatest matadors of his generation and maintained connections with other prominent toreros including Luis Miguel Dominguín and the legendary Juan Belmonte.
These relationships went beyond mere professional interest. Hemingway’s friendship with Ordóñez, for instance, involved shared hunting expeditions, family gatherings and mutual respect that transcended cultural differences. These connections allowed him to move beyond the perspective of a tourist or observer to gain insider knowledge of bullfighting’s technical and cultural dimensions.
His social circle extended to artists and intellectuals as well. He knew the Catalan painter Joan Miró and collected his work. During the Civil War, he associated with international writers and journalists including Herbert Matthews of The New York Times and the war photographer Robert Capa, whose famous photograph “The Falling Soldier” was taken during this period. These connections placed Hemingway within networks of cultural and political influence that shaped both his writing and his understanding of Spain’s place in global affairs.
His complicated relationship with filmmaker Orson Welles reflected their shared fascination with Spanish culture, particularly bullfighting. Both men were aficionados of the corrida, though their approaches differed significantly. Their occasional conflicts – including a famous disagreement at Club 21 in New York – stemmed partly from competing claims to cultural authority about Spain. This rivalry illuminates how Spain had become not merely a setting but a kind of cultural capital over which American artists could compete.
Gender and Masculinity: The Spanish Context
Hemingway’s conception of gender roles, particularly masculinity, was profoundly influenced by his Spanish experiences. The figure of the torero represented for him an ideal of masculine behaviour combining courage, technical skill and grace under pressure. This ideal of masculinity – stoic, controlled and capable in the face of danger – became a template for Hemingway’s male protagonists across his fiction.
The Spanish concept of “cojones” (literally testicles, figuratively courage) appears throughout his work as a measure of manly virtue. In “Death in the Afternoon,” he explains this concept to American readers, noting that it represents not mere bravado but a specific type of courage that combines physical bravery with moral integrity and aesthetic control. This conception of masculinity was both reinforced by and projected onto Spanish culture in his work.
Women in Hemingway’s Spanish novels often represent competing archetypes: the sexually liberated but emotionally damaged Brett Ashley in “The Sun Also Rises” contrasts with the passionate, devoted María in “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Pilar, the formidable guerrilla leader in the latter novel, represents a different female archetype altogether – one that combines traditionally masculine strength with feminine intuition. These female characters, whilst sometimes criticised for reflecting Hemingway’s own gender preconceptions, nonetheless demonstrate his attempt to grapple with changing gender roles in the context of Spanish traditions.
Political Evolution: From Aesthetic to Engaged
Hemingway’s political consciousness underwent significant development through his engagement with Spain. His early visits in the 1920s reflected an aesthetic fascination rather than political engagement – he was drawn to Spanish traditions and cultural practices without deeply interrogating the country’s political realities. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera provided a stable background against which he could explore Spanish culture as a kind of aesthetic playground.
The Spanish Civil War forced a more sophisticated political engagement. Hemingway’s support for the Republican cause reflected both his personal relationships with Spanish Republicans and his growing anti-fascist convictions. However, his relationship with the communist elements within the Republican coalition was complicated. Whilst he worked alongside communists and expressed admiration for their organisational discipline, he maintained an independent stance and grew increasingly critical of Stalinist influence within the Republican forces.
The defeat of the Spanish Republic in 1939 represented a profound political disillusionment for Hemingway. This experience shaped his understanding of the growing fascist threat in Europe and contributed to his support for Allied efforts in World War II. Spain thus served as a political education for Hemingway, transforming him from an aesthetic observer to a politically engaged writer committed to anti-fascist causes.
Post-Civil War Engagement: Return to Franco’s Spain
After Franco’s victory, Hemingway’s relationship with Spain became more complex. He did not return to the country until 1953, well into the Franco dictatorship. These later visits reflected a painful negotiation between his love for Spanish culture and his opposition to Franco’s regime. He compartmentalised his experiences, focusing on personal connections and cultural practices whilst largely avoiding direct engagement with political realities.
His final major work about Spain, “The Dangerous Summer” (1960), chronicled the rivalry between bullfighters Antonio Ordóñez and Luis Miguel Dominguín during the 1959 season. This work demonstrated his enduring fascination with bullfighting whilst revealing a more mature, reflective perspective. The tone is more elegiac than his earlier Spanish writings, suggesting an awareness of both his own mortality and the transformation of the Spain he had loved in his youth.
These later engagements with Spain were complicated by his celebrity status. Now famous not merely as a writer but as a cultural icon, Hemingway found his movements in Spain attended by publicity and public recognition. His presence attracted attention from Franco’s government, which recognised his tourism value despite his previous Republican sympathies. This tension between personal memory, political principle and public persona characterised his final encounters with the country that had so profoundly shaped his life and work.
Literary Heritage: The Spanish Canon
Hemingway’s engagement with Spanish literature informed his own writing in significant ways. He admired Spanish writers including Miguel de Cervantes, whose “Don Quixote” he considered one of the greatest novels ever written. The influence of this Spanish literary heritage appears throughout his work, from his interest in the picaresque tradition to his appreciation for Cervantes’ combination of realism and idealism.
His reading of Spanish poetry, particularly the work of Federico García Lorca and the Generation of ’27, informed his understanding of Spanish cultural currents. Though Hemingway’s own style differed markedly from these poets’ more ornate approaches, he respected their artistic innovations and political commitments. Lorca’s assassination by Nationalist forces in 1936 became for Hemingway a powerful symbol of fascism’s threat to artistic freedom.
Hemingway’s own influence on subsequent Spanish literature has been significant, though complicated by political factors. During the Franco era, his work was sometimes viewed with suspicion due to his Republican sympathies. Nevertheless, his stylistic innovations and his international attention to Spanish themes influenced generations of Spanish writers, who either embraced or reacted against his portrayal of their country. This literary dialogue continues today, as Spanish authors engage with, revise and challenge Hemingway’s vision of Spain.
The Spanish Response: Critical Reception and Legacy
Spanish reception of Hemingway’s work has evolved significantly over time, reflecting changing political circumstances and cultural attitudes. During the Franco era, official response to Hemingway was ambivalent – his fame made him valuable for tourism, but his Republican sympathies made him politically suspect. His works were sometimes censored or published in expurgated editions.
Spanish literary critics have offered diverse perspectives on Hemingway’s portrayal of their country. Some have praised his deep engagement with Spanish culture and his ability to communicate its values to international audiences. Others have criticised what they perceive as exotic simplifications or cultural misunderstandings in his work. The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, for instance, took issue with aspects of Hemingway’s interpretation of bullfighting, arguing that the American writer sometimes missed crucial cultural nuances.
Contemporary Spanish attitudes toward Hemingway reflect this complex legacy. His contribution to Spanish tourism is widely acknowledged, particularly in places like Pamplona, where the San Fermín festival now attracts thousands of international visitors inspired by “The Sun Also Rises.” Bars and restaurants he frequented proudly display Hemingway memorabilia, capitalising on their association with the famous writer.
Academic assessment of Hemingway in Spain has become increasingly sophisticated. Spanish scholars now approach his work not merely as representations of Spain but as complex cultural texts that reveal as much about American perspectives as they do about Spanish realities. This nuanced critical approach acknowledges both the value of Hemingway’s engagement with Spain and its limitations as a product of his particular historical and cultural position.
The Tourist Gaze: Hemingway’s Spain Today
The Spain that Hemingway knew has transformed dramatically since his death in 1961. Franco’s dictatorship gave way to democratic transition in the 1970s and Spain has since become an integrated member of the European Union. Traditions that Hemingway celebrated, particularly bullfighting, have diminished in cultural significance, with many younger Spaniards viewing them as anachronistic or ethically problematic.
Yet “Hemingway’s Spain” persists as a powerful construct in cultural imagination and tourism marketing. Visitors continue to follow the “Hemingway trail” through Madrid, Pamplona and other Spanish locations associated with the writer. Annual celebrations during the San Fermín festival specifically commemorate Hemingway’s connection to Pamplona, with international visitors participating in activities directly inspired by “The Sun Also Rises.”
This tourism has complex implications for Spanish cultural authenticity. Some critics argue that Hemingway-inspired tourism has transformed authentic cultural practices into performances aimed at foreign visitors, creating a simulacrum of traditional Spain that bears little relationship to contemporary Spanish life. Others view this tourism more positively as a form of cultural heritage that preserves traditions that might otherwise disappear entirely.
Hemingway in Spain: The Enduring Dialogue
Hemingway’s relationship with Spain transcended mere literary inspiration. He served as a cultural interpreter, introducing Spanish values and traditions to international audiences whilst developing a unique literary voice profoundly influenced by Spanish culture. His engagement evolved from aesthetic fascination to political commitment to elegiac remembrance, reflecting both his personal development and Spain’s turbulent 20th-century history.
This relationship exemplifies how cultural exchange can shape both the observer and the observed, creating lasting impacts on literature, tourism and international understanding. Hemingway’s Spain remains a powerful construct in cultural imagination, distinct from but intertwined with the historical reality of 20th-century Spain.
For students of American literature, Hemingway’s Spanish works offer a crucial perspective on key developments in 20th-century fiction. His spare style, developed partly through engagement with Spanish cultural values; his political awakening, catalysed by the Spanish Civil War; and his treatment of themes including death, honour and gender, all reveal the profound influence of Spain on American literary modernism.
The dialogue between Hemingway and Spain continues today, as new generations of readers, writers and travellers engage with both the historical Spain that Hemingway knew and the contemporary nation that has emerged since his death. This ongoing conversation demonstrates the enduring power of literary representation to shape cultural understanding across national boundaries and through time.
