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Felice Kutmann Schopenhauer, better known by his hispanicized artistic name, Félix Guzmán (29 July 1923–1943) was a 20th-century Mexican bullfighter.

Early years
Guzmán was born as Felice Kutmann Schopenhauer on 29 July 1923 in Barraca del Muerto, Mixcoac; an impoverished suburb of Mexico City. He was the son of an Italian father and a German mother who, according to Spanish historian XXXXXX, was a niece of the eminent philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The claim is highly contested, given that Schopenhauer was born into an aristocratic family while the matador's mother, by most accounts, was a German immigrant who lived in abject poverty.

In any case, his poor upbringing prevented him from receiving a proper matador training. Nevertheless, he joined a group of young toreadors who toured the small villages nearby facing half-breed moruchos —some of them toreados already— and decided to adopt the name of Félix Guzman (an hispanization of Felice Kutmann) to blend into the Mexican bullfight scene.

Professional career
He debuted professionally in 1939 in Plaza Ford, along Ángel "Angelillo" Procuna and Manolo Urbina. His big break, however, came until 6 July 1941, when he joined XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXX at El Toreo, a bullring at La Condesa, and got ears and tail. According to the press, his skills were evidently limited due to the lack of proper training, but his courage and blue-eyed, blonde boyish looks distinguished him from other aspiring novilleros of the time. For those reasons, XXXX, his manager, began to promote him as El torero niño (The toreador kid).

Guzmán impressed the judges in subsequent bullfights, but his reckless approach and limited technique brought him several injuries that forced him to recover during most of 1942. In the meantime he met Barnaby Conrad, an influential author from the United States who wrote extensively on bullfighting, and taught him some rudiments of tauromachy. He also married Carmen Rovira, and the couple was expecting their first child when the toreador signed up for his last corrida.

Death
In 1943, Guzmán signed up along Pepe Luis Vázquez and Arturo Fregoso for a bullfight in El Toreo, one of Mexico's most important fighting venues. The bulls were brought from Santín and Heriberto Rodríguez.

Guzmán had no problem dispatching the first bull from Santín, but the second one, a cárdeno bragado from Heriberto Rodríguez named Reventón, proved to be a greater challenge. After several passes, the animal wounded him in the femoral triangle, producing a 15 cm incision. In a stunt of bravado, Guzmán downplayed the injury, refused to be taken to the infirmary and remained in the bullfight until killing Reventón. The judges granted him XXXX and he still circled the bullring on foot before being escorted to the doctors' office.

Upon inspection, doctors XXXXXX and XXXXXX realized the seriousness of the injury and Guzmán was rushed to the hospital. Two days later they declared XXXX and on June 2nd, Guzmán died from a septic shock at the age of 19.

The news of his death took the press by surprise and several homages were dedicated by his fans. He was interred at Dolores Civil Cemetery in Mexico City and his expecting widow, Carmen, would eventually deliver a stillborn son.

The name of the bull that fatally wounded Guzmán, Reventón, was immortalized by the Italian automaker Lamborghini in Lamborghini Reventón, a special edition.

Books

 * Las actividades espaciales en México: Una revisión crítica (Space activities in Mexico: A critical review, 1987)

Notes and references
Category:Mexican astronomers Category:Polish astronomers Category:National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:1920 births Category:2003 deaths