I must admit that I don’t know what made me select this one from the library – it looked
pretty new on the shelf??
Don Celestino is a bitter old man. But is he bitter with
himself or with the world as it is?
He stops speaking to two of his friends (or his only two
friends) and when they respond in kind, he wonders at the fact they he cannot
talk to them about what ails him.
He is living in France, exiled from Spain and all he does is
complain about France. He has a daughter that lives with him and he begins to
notice a change in her reactions toward him.
She does not engage his rants and articles he hopes to publish and she
begins to lie to him of her whereabouts.
Celestino fought in the Spanish Civil War and he is haunted
by visions of seeking the enemy with his gun. He thinks at any moment he will
be arrested for his participation. He
talks out loud while walking in the street.
He thinks that the handful of people he knows are against him. He is driving himself mad!
When his sister dies, her husband tells Celestino that he
must come to Madrid to settle her estate.
This only enhances his madness. The
only exciting part of her return are the tickets he bought to see the
bullfights. The story ends with a description
of the bull-fighting (tauromachy) practice and Celestino uses that analogy to
describe his life, or actually his end-of-life. He then begins to feel for the
bull who is already predisposed to die before getting in the ring.
An interesting tale.
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