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

Authors : Laëtitia NEBOT-DENEUVİLLE

Pages : 69-89

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Publication Date : 2023-06-15

Article Type : Research Paper

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 insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(1922); by Wharton and Across the River and into the Trees insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(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