Insisting on a well-rounded study of predecessors. Hemingway's story depicts what happens when a young artist, in thisĬase a would be matador, has no one to play the part of a mentor Sappho, Catullus, and Villon, as well as Heine, Gautier and Chaucer (7). Should, for example, immerse himself in Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, Pupils that they begin by copying masterwork, and proceed to their ownĬomposition" ("A Retrospect" 10). Program of study for the aspiring poet, Pound reminds the impressionable novice that "all the old masters of painting recommend to their
Sestina, and translations of Chinese verse. The past reveals the criteria for artistic greatness,Ī philosophy resulting in Pound's early experimentation withīrowning-esque dramatic monologues, seemingly antiquated forms like the Renewed interest in and appreciation for the great artists and great Modernists, Eliot and Pound, felt culture's salvation required a Stimulus of novelty is required" to attract the public'sĪttention (Eliot, "Reflections" 184). That "tradition is ever lapsing into superstition, and the violent The present and the past, society had turned "sluggish" so Modernists believed that rather than cultivate a relationship between Sublime'/In the old sense" (Hugh Selwyn Mauberly" 61).
"resuscitate the dead art/Of poetry to maintain 'the Tradition" ("Reflections" 184), or Pound's call to Modernist call for a return to "a society with a living "The Capital of the World" reprises Eliot's If this is the case, then he diesīecause he has no one with experience to dispel his illusions about theīullfight and teach him a more adequate approach to craft. One that threatens to do irreparable harm to Spanish culture and cannot Indicating that the boy's death results from a generational rift, Points out, but to fault Paco alone ignores several aspects of the story Paco does die in part for displaying inadequate craft, as Grebstein Grebstein also blames Paco, bluntlyĪsserting that "he cause of Paco's death is his excess ofĬourage and illusion" (23). "he boy Paco is killed because of his own "Paco dies because he fails to sense the literal danger of theīull" (39). Responsibility onto Paco in their readings. The ending emphasizes his failures, his lack of insight, hisĪbsence of experience, his inability to grasp the permanence of death.ĭrawing on the ending, critics similarly load the burden of In an unforgiving, often brutal world lacking sympathy and secondĬhances. The story's last paragraphs place allĬulpability on Paco for being a naive dreamer, too innocent to survive The ending can fool the reader into believing that "TheĬapital of the World" merely tells the story of an impoverished,Īmbitious boy who cannot separate an imaginary picture of himself as aĭaring matador from his actual status as a play-actor who places himself Interwoven set of reasons for Paco's death when the pretend Informing readers that "e died, as the Spanish phrase has it,įull of illusions" (SS 51). An intrusive narrative voice eulogizes the boy Paco, Penultimate paragraph unfolds in a curiously un-Hemingway-like manner,Ĭlosing the story not on a note of layered ambiguity, but with total Story's failure to generate sustained critical interest. Macomber," also written in 1936, have overshadowed "TheĬapital of the World." They agree that its ending accounts for the Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis They lament that its more acclaimed siblings, "The Snows of Prominence alongside more commonly acknowledged Hemingway masterpieces. Over the years, worked sporadically but diligently to bring the story to "THE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD" remains a largely neglected Own greatness to learn from its predecessors. In the Afternoon: the ability and mystique of Spain's matadors isīeing compromised by a new generation too impatient and convinced of its Represents a fictional rendering of a dominant theme advanced in Death Lacks a mentor willing to teach him the craft of bullfighting. Tradition and legacy, another possibility emerges. Seen from a modernist perspective that values World" all theorize that the protagonist, Paco, deserves blame for The few critical articles discussing "The Capital of the APA style: Tradition and the individual bullfighter: the lost legacy of the matador in Hemingway's 'The Capital of the World'.Tradition and the individual bullfighter: the lost legacy of the matador in Hemingway's 'The Capital of the World'." Retrieved from
#SYMBOLS IN THE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD HEMINGWAY FREE#
MLA style: "Tradition and the individual bullfighter: the lost legacy of the matador in Hemingway's 'The Capital of the World'." The Free Library.