A Duel of Bulls Hemingway and Welles in Love and War
By Pete Carvill
The first meeting between Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles ended in thrown punches and exchanged insults. This most unlikely of pairings would go on to have a tumultuous friendship that would last for the next twenty-five years.
Lyrical and unafraid to tackle the difficulty of conveying the lives of two legendary self-mythologisers, this fascinating literary biography explores their intersecting paths, passions and love for Spain. Brought together by the Spanish Civil War and bound by bullfighting and the high life, Hemingway and Welles found their lives and art intertwining for more than two decades, as their fates gradually began to mirror one another.
Pete Carvill, author of the acclaimed Death of a Boxer, uses extensive research and literary flourish to bring to life this epic tale of two of the twentieth century’s most formidable figures.
Reviews
“Orson Welles’s and Ernest Hemingway’s histrionic lives both occupied the twentieth century like Moby Dick in a goldfish bowl. Finally, here is a book that offers the rare amusement and pleasure of how their mythic paths crossed on the world’s stage. There are fine moments from Pete Carvill’s A Duel of Bulls that feel like little treasures from an unpublished chapter of A Moveable Feast that finally found their way to the page.”
Brin-Jonathan Butler, author of The Domino Diaries and The Grandmaster
“In this ambitious, beautifully written book, Pete Carvill playfully and exactingly explores not only the never-before-examined relationship between two of the most influential artists of the twentieth century but also the interplay and nature of self-myth versus truth in art and in each of our lives. A Duel of Bulls is a marvellous book I wish I’d written and one I will not only reread time and again but will damn well purchase as presents for friends.”
Davis Miller, author of The Tao of Muhammad Ali and The Tao of Bruce Lee
“A Duel of Bulls tells the story of two egomaniacs of cultural history whose first encounter led to a fistfight. In his literary biography of Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, Pete Carvill transforms their relationship into a pulsating portrayal of men who gave everything for their art. The historical backdrop, illuminating scenes and witty dialogue come together in this intriguing book and bring two titans of literature and cinema to life.”
Carmen Eller, author of A Year in Moscow
“Pete Carvill deftly conjures the intersecting trajectories of two of the twentieth century’s great male egos as they bloat their way from New York to Seville, from Broadway to the front lines, in a patter of wisecracking dialogue and clever turns of phrase. You don’t have to be a Hemingway or Welles fan to get swept up in the antics of men so mighty they reduce world wars, geopolitical shifts and the lives of bit-part players from Rita Hayworth to Martha Gellhorn to trials in quest of the grit and guts to live up to their own legends.”
Ruby Russell, author of Doing It All
“An evocative and atmospheric book, full of imagination and empathy for the men at its heart and the connections between them. From its conception to its execution, it tells a powerful tale about people and the stories they tell – the stories of others and of themselves.”
Paul Scraton, author of A Dream of White Horses, Built on Sand and In the Pines
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- Hardback, 304 pages
- ISBN: 9781785908965
- 10 April 2025
- £20.00
- eBook
- ISBN: 9781837360031
- 10 April 2025
- £14.99