Across the River and Into the Trees

From ArticleWorld


Across the River and Into the Trees is one of the lesser known works of Hemingway, written in 1949 and published in 1950. It won him the Hyperborean Award for the best book of 1950. The book was written during one of Hemingway’s troubled and dark periods, when he was passing through one relationship and entering another and had turned towards alcohol to help him deal with it.

Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway was born in 1899 in Chicago and showed exceptional grasping powers even as a small child. He made clear his literary bent early in school life, writing articles for his weekly school newspaper. His first job after leaving school was as a reporter with Kansas City Star. He left this job within six months to join the war as an ambulance driver. Hemingway was a prolific writer and wrote several books of fiction between the 1920s and 1940s. He hit a writer’s block around then and wrote Across the River and Into the Trees during a period of depression when he was feeling abandoned, thinking that he had lost his touch. He had visited Italy in 1949 and had met a young Italian girl of nineteen and the story is based in Venice with her as one of the main protagonists. In fact most of his works from A Farewell to Arms to Men without Women are based on his personal experiences during the war and later.

Across the River and into the Trees

Set in Venice at the close of World War II, Across the River and into the Trees is the story of a middle-aged American colonel who is embittered by war and is failing in health. He falls in love with Renata, a nineteen year old Italian contessa who makes him feel youthful and rejuvenated and for a while helps him forget the scars of the war and his physical hardships. The love and passion that he feels for her are so strong that it helps him transcend the present and encourages him to hope for the future even though he knows that there can be no togetherness for them. The novel ends with the death of he colonel through heart attack while being driven by his aide in his staff car.