This study breaks new ground by examining the profoundly submissive and masochistic posture toward women exhibited by many of Hemingway's heroes, from Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises to David Bourne in The Garden of Eden. The discussion draws on the ideas of diverse authors revealing that 'masochistic aesthetic' informs many of the texts.

"This is a daring and fascinating book, which adds yet another chapter to the recent revisionist work that has altered forever the way we read Hemingway and his writings. Arguing that Hemingway and his male protagonists are consumed by a need to be dominated sexually by women, Fantina alters our understanding of the heterosexuality of Hemingway and his heroes. Sorting carefully through theories of masochism, Fantina cleverly explains the contradictory impulses of Hemingway and his men: their attraction to forbidden desires and acts which seem to stand in such stark contrast to their dominating bravado when in the public eye. Ultimately, this book makes a compelling case for the queer heterosexuality of Hemingway and the male characters he created in his own image. Ernest Hemingway: Machismo and Masochism fills an important gap in recent work on the transgressive sexuality of Hemingway and his characters, and as such will be a welcome contribution by many Hemingway scholars." - Debra A. Moddelmog, author of Reading Desire: In Pursuit of Ernest Hemingway

"Considerations of gender and sexuality have been central to Hemingway studies for the past decade. This book s great virtue is that it has something new to tell us about Ernest Hemingway. It has outstanding insights into Hemingway s work." - Carl P. Eby, author of Hemingway s Fetishism: Psychoanalysis and the Mirror of Manhood

Autorentext

RICHARD FANTINA teaches English at the University of Miami, USA. His work has appeared in The Hemingway Review and he has presented papers on literary portrayals of gender in modernist, post-modernist, and Victorian texts at numerous academic conferences. In 2003 he was awarded research fellowships from the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) and the Hemingway Society to complete this book.

Inhalt
Introduction: Ernest Hemingway: Machismo and Masochism Hemingway and Theories of Masochism Elements of Hemingway's Masochism Hemingway and the Feminine Complex Defying the Code: Masochism in the Major Texts Hemingway, Race, and Colonialism Reaffirming the Code: Reinscribing Patriarchy