Alexander Fiske-Harrison

Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison (born 22 July 1976) is an English author and journalist, naturalist and conservationist.

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Quotes

The crowd are on their feet, stamping and cheering, but El Cid just stands and stares at the bull in grave silence, his face inscrutable. This was truly what Kenneth Tynan called in his 1955 book Bull Fever "the slow, sad fury of a perfect bullfight."
- "A Noble Death" in Prospect (September 2008)

Whether or not the artistic quality of the bullfight outweighs the moral question of the animals’ suffering is something that each person must decide for themselves – as they must decide whether the taste of a steak justifies the death of a cow. But if we ignore the possibility that one does outweigh the other, we fall foul of the charge of self-deceit and incoherence in our dealings with animals.
- From an article in Prospect (November 2008), as quoted on the author's blog, "About the Author", The Last Arena: In Search of the Spanish Bullfight (c. 19 March 2023)

There is an image I will never lose, much as I wish I could. It is of a man standing with half his face held in his right hand. Cheek, jaw and eyeball, like so much meat, resting in his palm as he walked towards his team uncomprehending, and they, with looks of absolute horror, grabbed his arms and rushed him to the infirmary of the ring. And yet here, in the amongst the carnage inflicted on a human body by a half ton of enraged animal, is the key to Juan José Padilla. The clue is in the phrase "stood up." Soccer players are stretchered off the field from a tap to the ankle. Boxers go down from a padded glove. This was more than half a ton of muscle, focused into a pointed tip that ploughed through his skull like a sword through snow. And the man got up and walked.
- From an article in GQ (2012), as quoted on the author's blog, "The Last Matador", The Last Arena: In Search of the Spanish Bullfight (c. 8 November 2023)