Ernest Hemingway: Machismo and Masochism (review)

For nearly three decades, scholars have been busy rethinking how masculinity operates in Hemingway's life and work, replacing the celebrated macho persona with a Hemingway motivated by various psychosexual desires. Yet, as Richard Fantina argues in his important new book Ernest Hemingway: Machismo and Masochism, "[a]lthough many critics now readily dismiss the old Hemingway myth of machismo, few seem prepared to acknowledge the masochism that prevails in much of his work" (1). Fantina's book aims to redress this critical oversight, making the case that masochism is a central feature of Hemingway's major works. He uses the term masochism in its specific sexual sense, meaning the desire of a man "to submit himself sexually to, and to suffer pain and/or humiliation administered by, a woman whom he has elevated into a position of superiority and dominance" (6). As his book's title suggests, Fantina argues that this dynamic of the dominant woman and passive male often exists alongside the characters' machismo. As he puts it quite directly at one point, "Hemingway's men dominate in the world. His women often dominate in the bedroom" (77).

In building his case, Fantina draws on a number of theorists of masochism, including Freud, Leo Bersani, Kaja Silverman, and most crucially Gilles Deleuze, whose 1967 book Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty reconsiders the novels of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch in order to question the popular concept of sadomasochism. Contrary to many Freudian theories, which see masochism as a perversion complementary to sadism, Deleuze argues that masochism is a distinct phenomenon and a legitimate expression of masculinity. Whereas the sadist wreaks sexual violence on an unwilling victim, the masochist educates a sympathetic partner to be the cold and cruel woman he desires. By submitting to the woman and participating in ritualized scenes of humiliation and suspense, Deleuze suggests, the masochist opens up the possibility for a subversion of patriarchal law and a rebirth as a new man. Fantina locates a similar masochistic dynamic in Hemingway's work, arguing that although one doesn't find the whip-wielding dominatrix of Sacher-Masoch's novels, Hemingway's male characters continually submit to dominant women, and thus push the boundaries of acceptable masculine behavior. Following Deleuze, then, Fantina expresses his desire to move beyond Freudian psychoanalysis, stating that his "purpose in these pages is not to offer another psychoanalytical interpretation but rather to discuss Hemingway's work in the tradition of literary masochism and the critical responses to it," a tradition that includes writers as different as Swinburne, Wilde, Lawrence, and Joyce (2).

In this context of literary masochism, Fantina reconsiders a number of Hemingway's novels and stories. The early chapters of the book examine Hemingway's works in relation to various theories of masochism, highlighting how specific elements of masochism—including fetishism, humiliation, pain, suspense, and the contract—function in Hemingway's novels and stories. Subsequent chapters then extend these analyses, explaining in more detail how masochism works in many of the novels and considering related topics, such as the relationship between sodomy and homophobia in several novels and the role of masochism in the colonialism of the later work. What emerges from these analyses is the sense that Hemingway and his male characters are constantly negotiating between cultural codes of masculinity and their secret masochistic desires. For instance, Fantina argues that masochism plays a central role in The Sun Also Rises, with Jake as the passive, wounded war veteran and Brett as the dominant woman. Fantina persuasively shows that the novel shares many similarities with Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs, particularly in the way it continually humiliates the masochist by providing a rival for the woman's affection. In Venus in Furs, Wanda often tells Severin about her attraction to other men and instructs him to arrange her meeting with his primary rival, the Greek. Similarly, in The Sun Also Rises, Brett tells Jake about her love of Romero, insisting that Jake introduce them. In this instance and in other moments of...