The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-27
By HARRY ESTY BOUNCE.

I'iiSEb lDdIltL HONtlS III II tllISIlliOiIS-
Blood and Sand was his first one to cross
the Pyrenees and the Atlantic and to win
for him the recognition Of such spirits as
Mr.. Howells, if not Of the public at large.
It was available to US in English some
years ago. 1t quietly lapsed out Of print,
but now returns, translated by Mrs. W.
A. Gillespie, an Eng1shwoman appar-
emily, and prefaced with sense and taste
by Mr.. Isaac Goldberg.
While its impressivencss is an old story
now and can't be discovered again, to
notice any edition of this really epic novel
in perfunctory way would be absured.
Your reporter has been trying to imagine
what Spaniard-one capable Of appreei-
ating Mr. Blasco Ibanez on the artistic side
and humane and intelligent enough to en-
terrain his views of bull fighting must
have thought of BIoodand Send when it first
appeared. As q creation it must have as
tOnished him, somewhat as The Old Wires
Tale astonished people who knew its Eng
land To him all that mass Of material
would have been commonplace, Of course.
The story Of the rise and fall of Juan
Gal!ardo, sort of Ty Cobb among ia
nous matadores, would have been as the
story of the career Of a big league pitcher
from two-ole-cat in the corner lot to
bone play and disgrace in the worlds Sc
rics would be to Us. And the story en-
visagcs all there is of bull fighting. Mr..
BIaseo Ibanez Uses everything. At this
distance every paragraph has the glamour
of the exotic, but to the Spaniard the
vitalizing of such a mass of humdrum
detail must have seemed a tour de force
and be would at once have seen, with
clear eyes, the immensely powerful work
tn novel is.
Indeed the author writes about tauro-
maehv Ia nice wise word, meaning bull
fighting, l Iearn) with the understanding
of a native and the freshness and keen
ness Of young kipling from wherever
SPANS antipodes may be. Many Amerl-
can readers will drop the book on reach
ing the first corridd. Brutal, disgusting,
loathsome, will be the EXPLANATIONS. Ger
tainly bull fight, with old horses being
dise,nboweled, dragged ont, sewn up and
spurred in at the bull afresh, with a man
gored now and then, with every bull get
ting the steel through his vitals and a
sluggish one being tortured to fury by
the use Of fire darts, and so on, is all that
as Mr.. Blasco Ibanez agrees with his
whole SOUL and certainly if you are to
read Blood and Sand you will have to
witness not one but several bull fights, re-
produced by mastery deseriber.
Butt is the bull fight that is ugly,
not the author. He sought, mastering
every resource Of his art, to show Spain
not only her national sport, but herself
as its spectator. Yet would expect novel
on this subject to turn out to be one of
three things: clinic and tract, a top
lofty and over-em0tionaIized romance
think of the "abymals" and "primor-
dials" Jack London would have sprinkled
around, and how he would have snivelled
over Juan's gored remainsl or sensual
waIlowing in blood and gold braid and
fierce multitudes and cruelty and agony.
Blood and Sand is none Of them. Mr..
Blasco Ibanez's attitude is exemplary in
health and balance. At impersonality the
Congressional Records star reporter can
not beat him. He has no grief Of his own,
and none Of yours, to squander On his
hero. He has given all the facts about
GalIardo, who is big, scented "exh.bi-
ZIONIST" and blackguard-but he has also
shown exactly how Gallardo came to be
one and has charged it up, not to bull
fighting merely, nor to the afeio"ados
(whom Mrs. Gillespie renders as the
fancy or fraternity, and We should call
the fans) nor particularly Of Spain-but