Travel and Transgression in Northern Italy in Glimpses of the Moon (1922) by Edith Wharton and Across the River and into the Trees (1950) by Ernest Hemingway
Abstract
In what ways do the experiences of travel and transgression
converge? This question acquires particular focus in the fiction of both
Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway when they contemplate their
experience of Northern Italy and in particular Venice. This paper will
offer an analysis of the pattern of transgressions in The Glimpses of
the Moon (1922) by Wharton and Across the River and into the Trees
(1950) by Hemingway. Although the novels are separated by thirty
years around World War II, they are nevertheless bound by their
setting and fundamental theme of seeking refuge in Northern Italy to
escape social entrapment. In different ways, both novels reveal how
crossing one’s border is transgressive as it means challenging one’s
own culture, language, social and sexual norms. This is particularly
true in Venice and in the area surrounding Lake Como in the twentiethcentury, because Northern Italy proves to be a liberating place for all
genders and sexual inclinations at that time. However, transgression
is only temporary as the protagonists in the novels eventually return
to their homeland. The temporariness of their journey is what makes
it transgressive in the first place, just like the Carnival of Venice that
allows all sorts of transgressions once a year.
Keywords
Literary Venice, transgression, travel, Northern Italy, American tourists, ephemerality
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