Review: The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemingway

The Dangerous Summer is Ernest Hemingway’s final nonfiction work, published posthumously in 1985. It chronicles the intense rivalry between two legendary Spanish bullfighters, Antonio Ordóñez and Luis Miguel Dominguín, during the bullfighting season of 1959. Originally commissioned by Life magazine, the narrative offers a mix of travel writing, personal commentary, and Hemingway’s signature economical prose.

The book is part sports journalism, part cultural observation, and part memoir. Hemingway, who had a lifelong fascination with bullfighting (also explored in Death in the Afternoon), uses the sport as a lens to explore themes of honor, artistry, masculinity, and mortality. Ordóñez, son of a matador Hemingway had admired decades earlier, becomes the author's clear favorite, portrayed with almost mythic reverence.

While not as polished or tight as Hemingway’s earlier works—it has some repetition and digressive moments—it still captures the drama and brutality of the bullring vividly. It also serves as a reflection of a weary Hemingway, offering rare glimpses of vulnerability and nostalgia near the end of his life.

Verdict: A must-read for Hemingway enthusiasts and those interested in bullfighting culture. For others, it may feel more like a passionate, if rambling, final letter from a literary giant obsessed with grace under pressure.