This picture resonates with a stolid serenity that belies the erratic behavior that sometimes characterized Hemingway on his 1953 safari. Drinking heavily, he took up with a native girl under the eyes of his own wife; he shaved his head in the name of "going native"; and, dyeing his clothes a rusty color to match the hue favored among the local Masai people, he went hunting with a spear.
Hemingway at his writing desk during his African safari
Earl Theisen (1903-1973) / Gelatin silver print, 1953
Image courtesy Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
Copyright 1998 Earl Theisen Archives
