Five years have passed since my last post
on this blog. My apologies, but they were five years in which I dedicated
myself to fiction and journalism. I wrote for hunting and fishing magazines, worked
on a collection of short stories and just recently I published a new novel,
“Bacchanalia: A Pamplona Story.” It takes place during the Fiesta de San Fermin
and as probably anyone who has been to Pamplona knows this town and its fiesta
were in a very real sense put on the world map with the publication of my grandfather’s
book “The Sun Also Rises.” His novel was a huge success in the United States,
describing as it did a group of jaded and decadent American and English ex-pats
who spend most of their time at the fiesta drinking, talking, flirting, dancing
and watching bullfights.
That was almost a hundred years ago and the
town and its destiny were changed forever, although its spirit in many ways has
remained the same. The large contingent of Anglo-American ex-pats still spends
most of its time at the fiesta drinking, talking, flirting, dancing, watching
and, of course, running with the bulls. They are not a part of a Lost Generation
as Ernest Hemingway was and certainly not as jaded as the characters he wrote
about in his novel. Instead they live like the rest of us in the modern world
with all its distractions, pleasures, conveniences and absurdities. They are
drowning in that sea of ridiculous choices that all of us are forced to make
every day and come to the fiesta in search of something that has healing powers,
something that has remained true to itself and that will not change and which
has ancient roots. What they find is the Roman Bacchanalia in a post-modern
guise. There is an excess of everything during the fiesta and for nine days and
nights they forget about the outside world and live their lives to the fullest.
“Bacchanalia: A Pamplona Story” is, in
short, a modern take on this ancient festival. It is a portrait of what goes on
there as seen through the eyes of its Italian-American protagonist, Frank
Ardito.
So prepare yourself and get a copy of the novel
on Amazon.com (ebook or paperback) at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081LKJZPJ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bacchanalia%3A+A+Pamplona+Story&qid=1573941392&s=books&sr=1-1
and then come to the fiesta in July of
2020. Because as they say in Pamplona, Ya
falta menos (every day is one day less until the next San Fermin).
Copyright 2019, John Hemingway
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