Across the River and into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway

First published: 1950

Type of plot: Realism

Time of work: Winter, 1949

Locale: Venice, Italy, and the surrounding area

Principal Characters:

• Richard Cantwell, the protagonist, a colonel, formerly a United States brigadier general, a professional soldier
• Renata, an Italian countess, “nearly nineteen,” the colonel’s mistress
• Jackson, an army sergeant, the colonel’s driver
• The Gran Maestro, the headwaiter at the Gritti Palace Hotel and a member of the colonel’s fictitious Order of Brusadelli

The Novel

The novel opens on a cold Sunday morning with the protagonist traveling by boat to shoot ducks along a partially frozen lagoon near Venice. He assists the boatman in poling through the ice and offers to help place decoys, becoming somewhat angry at the surly boatman’s responses. Taking his place in a partially submerged barrel that serves as a blind, Colonel Richard Cantwell skillfully brings down the first two ducks that fly within range.

The narrative returns in a flashback to a physical examination that the colonel took three days earlier, when a skeptical army surgeon allowed him to pass, even though both men knew the colonel to be dying of heart disease. With Jackson, his driver, the colonel sets out from Trieste, recalling along the way sites where he fought and was wounded during World War I. Arriving in Venice, he goes by boat to the Gritti Palace Hotel and, once settled there, dines with his young mistress, Countess Renata. Afterward they make love in a gondola on the way to Renata’s home.

The following morning, the colonel leaves the hotel to walk through the market in the brisk winter air, returning in time for breakfast with his mistress. In his room he begins to tell her how he lost his regiment in the Hurtgen Forest. Although she finds portions of the account confusing, she listens as if knowing that it is important for him to share the experience. Even after the countess has fallen asleep, he continues his discourse—at times through an interior dialogue, at times addressing a portrait that Renata gave him.

They go to a jewelry shop where he buys Renata a moor’s head brooch that she admired; he informs her that the heirloom emeralds that she gave him have been deposited for her in the hotel safe. After martinis at Harry’s Bar, they return to the hotel for lunch, where the colonel and the Gran Maestro make her an honorary member of their humorous Order of Brusadelli. At their parting Renata weeps, although she has told him that she never does, and the colonel sets off for the Barone Alvarito’s estate, where he will hunt the next morning.

The narrative returns abruptly to the Sunday hunt, with the colonel in the blind recalling stories told by other hunters the preceding evening. After modest success, he finds the chances for more kills diminished by unfavorable weather. Returning to his car, he sets out with Jackson back to Trieste but en route is wracked by a series of attacks which convince him that he cannot live. After repeating General Stonewall Jackson’s final words, “No, no, let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees,” he moves to the back seat of the Buick and firmly closes the door. Jackson finds him dead shortly thereafter and reads a note that the colonel had written minutes earlier, ordering that the portrait and his shotguns be sent to the hotel for Renata to claim. Continuing the journey, Jackson reflects that this request will be handled through channels.

Except for the chapter narrating the physical examination, the entire plot unfolds within a period of three days. The book opens on the day of the hunt, moves backward to Friday and Saturday, and returns to the final day at the end. In the course of three days, the hero manages to tell his life’s story to those he encounters, its most important stages being the two world wars. The narrow time frame beginning in medias res lays heavy emphasis upon his approaching death. These final three days are narrated almost exclusively from the protagonist’s point of view, although one hears the authorial voice in the introduction and in the conclusion. The plot moves inexorably toward the climactic death of the protagonist.

In presenting the colonel’s interaction with other characters, Hemingway achieves an economy of narrative. Rarely does the novel focus on scenes involving more than two people. At first the colonel is with the boatman on the hunt and later, he is in the car with Jackson. Much of the remaining time he is with Renata—in a hotel or dining room, walking along the street, or riding in a gondola. Other scenes involve the colonel and barmen, waiters, or the Gran Maestro. Often a deep emotional bond exists between the hero and the other character, yet the characters serve primarily as straight men designed to facilitate the colonel’s rambling discourse.

The Characters

The protagonist, Colonel Richard Cantwell, a fifty-one-year-old professional soldier, is dying of heart disease. A veteran of both world wars, he seeks to relive his earlier life among friends and former comrades in Venice. He narrates his most important experiences to Renata, whose name means “reborn.” A man with strong likes and dislikes and some regrets, he avoids laying blame. Aggressive, somewhat short-tempered, he struggles to keep control over a truculent nature. An existential hero who conquers despair and angst, he lives by his code and feels most strongly drawn to those like himself, wounded by war or life. He quotes William Shakespeare and Dante and appreciates great works of art, but he is no mere aesthete: He lives life to the fullest and dies courageously. Lacking illusions, he nevertheless holds strong personal values—physical exertion, comradeship, kindness toward the weak, chivalry toward women, toughness toward oneself.

Renata, an Italian countess nearly nineteen, genuinely loves Cantwell. A woman of beauty, sensitivity, and wisdom beyond her years, she attempts to keep the dying colonel optimistic and forward-looking, even as she hears the unfolding story of his past. Like him, she is somewhat guarded in the expression of emotion, but her depth of feeling is undeniable.

Jackson, a technical sergeant and the colonel’s driver, has shared the military experience of war, having served in the Italian campaign. To a degree, he also shares the colonel’s temper and sense of dignity. His name may suggest to the colonel the quotation from Stonewall Jackson that gives the novel its title.

The Gran Maestro, who has the dignity and reserve of a headwaiter, fought with the colonel in World War I. He now suffers from ulcers and a heart condition less serious than the colonel’s. The two experience a kind of magical brotherhood when they are talking of their order, a magic that vanishes whenever the Gran Maestro returns to his duties. A complement of boatmen, barmen, and waiters, each making a brief appearance, remind the reader that the hero meets them on terms of easy familiarity. Sketched with brevity and economy, they exist primarily to reveal facets of Cantwell’s character or past experience.

Critical Context

From the beginning, critical estimates of Hemingway’s novel have been largely unfavorable, and the book continues to rank among his least successful. However fine the narrative technique and style, the novel centers so heavily on the hero that his character and expression influence readers most strongly. Cantwell closely resembles earlier Hemingway heroes such as Frederic Henry in A Farewell to Arms (1929) and Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Like them he is tragic, yet he carries the machismo of the traditional hero to excess. Once, while walking at night with Renata, Cantwell bridles at insults from two sailors. When they go too far, he approaches and begins a fight, quickly knocking one out. After landing several devastating blows against the other, he smashes him above the ear and turns rapidly away so that he will not hear the sailor’s head bounce against the pavement. Then, ignoring the hurt to his previously injured hand, he tells Renata that they should walk in such a way that the backs of their legs look dangerous.

In his attitudes, Cantwell resembles Hemingway and is in fact a highly autobiographical character. His blunt criticism of military and political leaders such as General George Patton, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, President Harry S Truman, and President Dwight David Eisenhower embarrassed many readers at the time. The dialogue incorporates the mannerisms of earlier Hemingway heroes taken to excess—insider jokes, cryptic allusions to weapons and weapons systems, military jargon, and slangy nicknames. Cantwell refers to a martini with fifteen parts gin and one part vermouth as a Montgomery—the point being that British Field Marshal Montgomery wanted favorable odds of fifteen to one before attacking and even then moved with caution. The numerous references and allusions to the World War II era must inevitably pose more difficulty for readers as time passes. One must be rather well grounded in languages to recognize and understand all of the Italian, German, French, and Spanish phrases and sentences sprinkled throughout the book.

Although the novel reveals many of the qualities of Hemingway’s art, it does not advance his previous achievement, either aesthetically or thematically. It remains among the minor achievements of a major novelist.

Bibliography

Benson, Jackson J., ed. New Critical Approaches to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1990. Section 1 covers critical approaches to Hemingway’s most important long fiction; section 2 concentrates on story techniques and themes; section 3 focuses on critical interpretations of the most important stories; section 4 provides an overview of Hemingway criticism; section 5 contains a comprehensive checklist of Hemingway short fiction criticism from 1975 to 1989.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Ernest Hemingway: Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. After an introduction that considers Hemingway in relation to later criticism and to earlier American writers, includes articles by a variety of critics who treat topics such as Hemingway’s style, unifying devices, and visual techniques.

Lynn, Kenneth S. Hemingway. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987. A shrewd, critical look at Hemingway’s life and art, relying somewhat controversially on psychological theory.

Mellow, James R. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. A well-informed, sensitive handling of the life and work by a seasoned biographer.

Meyers, Jeffrey. Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Harper and Row, 1985. Meyers is especially good at explaining the biographical sources of Hemingway’s fiction.

Reynolds, Michael. The Young Hemingway. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1986. The first volume of a painstaking biography devoted to the evolution of Hemingway’s life and writing. Includes chronology and notes.

Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The Paris Years. Volume 2. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1989. Includes chronology and maps.

Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The American Homecoming. Volume 3. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1992. Includes chronology, maps, and notes.

Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The 1930s. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1997. Volume 4 of Reynolds’s biography.