Books

Hemingway described Across the River and into the Trees, and one reader's reaction to it, using "Indian talk": "Book too much for him. Book start slow, then increase in pace till it becomes impossible to stand. I bring emotion up to where you can't stand it, then we level off, so we won't have to provide oxygen tents for the readers. Book is like engine. We have to slack her off gradually." Written in Italy, Cuba, and France in the late 1940s, it was the first of his novels to receive negative press and reviews. It was nonetheless a bestseller in America, spending 7 weeks at the top of The New York TIme's Bestseller List in 1950, and was, in fact, Hemingway's only novel to top the list. In recent years, the novel has been received more positively.

Across the River and Into the Trees is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1950, after first being serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine. The title derives from the last words of U.S. Civil War Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” Hemingway's novel chronicles the experiences of Colonel Richard Cantwell, an aging officer in the U.S. Army, during a weekend duck-hunting trip in Italy. Reflecting on his past and his love affair with a young countess, Cantwell's narrative captures themes of love, war, youth, and age.

Detection of a first edition of 'Across the River and Into the Trees' can be confirmed by looking for the publishing details indicating 'Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950.' Additional points include checking for the 'A' on the copyright page, which Scribner's used at that time to denote first printings.