Category Archives: 1

Meeting Hemingway’s Hero

Posted on July 7, 2016 by 100swallows

I knew a bar called Las Panderetas where bullfighters went and I had seen Nicanor Villalta sitting at a table in the corner one afternoon.  I could have approached him right then but I wasn´t ready, and by the time … Continue reading →

Posted in 1, bullfight, fighting bull, Madrid, Spain | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Cicero You Never Knew

Posted on December 10, 2015 by 100swallows

Name me a great Roman. Julius Caesar. Good.  Name me another one. Um.  Some gladiator—no, I know: Pontius Pilate. And Cicero?  Do you know what one scholar says about him? “The influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature … Continue reading →

Posted in 1, books, Caesar, history, Romans, toga | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Cervantes Leaves His Pretty Wife and Looks for a Job

Posted on July 24, 2015 by 100swallows

A few days after his wedding Cervantes must already have suspected that he had made a mistake. His wife was cheerful and  pretty and passably wealthy but he couldn’t stand her little town. How was he going to spend the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1, Cervantes, history, literature, Spain, Spanish Armada | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments