Posted 1:49 AM by Paul
American Enthusiasm

My friend Ray from Louisianna (see blog a few days ago) wrote a book about Pamplona aimed at explaining the fiesta of San Fermin to the American market. I see that a link his book is on the home page of Blogger, so I expect it go ballistic. Available on Amazon blah blah blah .

This is great for my already huge ego - as I am mentioned in it as some kind of incapsulation of fiesta spirit amongst the foriegn crew. This is very nice of Ray but I can't help feeling like a bit of a fraud - as the last two fiestas I have spent a great deal for time dancing to the Mexican pop goddess Paula Rubio in bars frequented by the Navarran bourgoisee. I have gone to fiesta every year since 1976 and have been unable to kick the habit since. Maybe I should ask Ray to set up a branch of Fiesta Anonomous.

Its a very good book with superb photographs, it covers a whole lot more than the bull running and is thankfullly accurate. OK I admit it, I wrote part of the glossary but before you ask, I am not on royalties. We got so amused by the inacurracies and fictions in American literature about the fiesta that we even started to invent our own and leak them to US college students. I think my wife Heather took the top prize for her claim that the fake plastic chorizos (Spanish sausage) hung outside a delicatessen on the bull run represtented every runner that had been killed or seriously injured. We even overheard a young British man repeating the myth in all seriousness to a friend in the bar opposite the said chorizos. Another story spread by Heather was that as part of their Equal Opportunities programme the town council ran an encierro in the opposite direction for wheel chair users to take advantage of the gradient.

One interesting thing about Ray's book is the way that various people (me included) are effectively nominated as honorary Americans - and I understand this is entirely meant as a compliment and with the best intentions. However, it highlights a trait in American society which is both charming and a bit grating to a European audience. Many Americans assume that anyone with a brain would really prefer to be an American. The film Green Card is based on the same assumption - that a young Frenchman would go to the extraordinary length of marring Andy McDowell simply to become a US citizen. Or perhaps we are meant to believe that the hapless Frenchman played by Gerard Depardieu was tired of fine wines, universal health care, superb architecture and a brilliant train service -and that is why he longed for an American passport.

On the plus side, Americans' boundless enthusiasm for their own culture is one reason for their success. It's not just about resources and intrinsic wealth otherwise Russia would rule the world and Nigeria would be right up there with Switzerland. Americans are like those hyper-active teenagers who run the best parties. " But you have got to come to our party! It will be blast" And finally you give in. Sometimes I think that being American is not so much a nationality as a state of mind.