Going Home: Hemingway, Primitivism, and Identity

Asserts that Hemingway’s interest in the primitive can be traced to his childhood interactions with Native American culture, including his attempted “racechanges” in which he claimed Native American ancestry. Del Gizzo explores Hemingway’s interaction with primitivism through contrasting his first and second safari expeditions, arguing that while the first trip was self-serving and exploitive of the culture, the author’s experimentation with primitivism during his second visit was a way to satisfy forbidden sexual desires, distance himself from Western culture, and recreate his identity. Del Gizzo examines several texts, including a 1954 article in Look, True at First Light, and The Garden of Eden to uncover Hemingway’s longstanding fascination with primitivism