The Death of Manolete
About this ebook
He shows the breeding that made the Spanish boy, the tempering that made the young torero, the sacrifice that made the man, the girl who brought him love, the acclaim that brought him incredible success and finally its price...the undoing that began slowly and ended in one last great afternoon and in an untimely death that put out the brightest flame in Spain. Manolete fired the Latin imagination as no one had done since El Cid. He was a symbol of Latin pride, valor, and chivalry. But the crowds owned him and he did their bidding...and they had bid him to die.
About the author
Born in San Francisco, California, Conrad graduated from Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. He attended the University of North Carolina, where he was captain of the freshman boxing team. He also studied painting at the University of Mexico, where he also became interested in bullfighting. After being injured in the bullring, he graduated from Yale University in 1943.
Conrad was American Vice Consul to Seville, Málaga, and Barcelona from 1943 to 1946. While in Spain, he studied bullfighting with Juan Belmonte, Manolete, and Carlos Arruza. In 1945 he appeared on the same program with Belmonte and was awarded the ears of the bull. He is the only American to have fought in Spain, Mexico, and Peru.
In 1947, he worked as secretary to famed novelist Sinclair Lewis. John Steinbeck chose Conrad's Matador as his favorite book of the year, and the novel has been translated into over 20 languages. In 1958, Conrad was gored almost fatally in a bullfight.
Conrad served as a Golden Gate Awards juror at the 1959 San Francisco Film Festival. In 1965 he joined the Festival board and served for five years.
Conrad started the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in 1973 at the Cate School, inviting well-known authors such as Eudora Welty, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, and Ross Macdonald. He and his wife Mary directed the literary gathering until Conrad sold the conference in 2004.
Phoenix Books published his bullfighting biography The Death of Manolete. Conrad passed away in 2013.
