Across the River and into the Trees

Published in 1950, Ernest Hemingway's penultimate novel follows Richard Cantwell, a fifty-one-year-old American army colonel stationed in Trieste after World War II. Facing imminent death from severe heart disease, Cantwell travels to Venice for a weekend leave to hunt ducks and visit his young mistress, the nineteen-year-old Italian countess Renata. The narrative unfolds primarily through conversations and internal monologues over the course of three days, contrasting the colonel's harsh wartime memories with the world-weary beauty of the city. Through this lens, the text functions as a stark, contemplative study of aging, the psychological toll of combat, and the acceptance of mortality.