Were they speaking French? It seems that the two were speaking French, which is weird, because they were in Italian Army and one of them was American and the other was Italian. What do you think? Than

Wu Ting

Were they speaking French? It seems that the two were speaking French, which is weird, because they were in Italian Army and one of them was American and the other was Italian. What do you think? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Chapter 9). the context: They picked me up and took me into the dressing room. Inside they were operating on all the tables. The little major doctor looked at us furious. He recognized me and waved a forceps. "Ca va bien?" "Ca va."

Apr 20, 2016 2:35 AM

Answers · 7

Yes,this is French. Ça va bien? Ça va. But the fact is,that they only greeted in French.Other details are irrelevant.Go on with the reading.Best wishes.

April 20, 2016

Hemingway was trying to do exactly what he seems to have done, make the military landscape of the war, seem "weird", by creating an environment with linguistic and cultural confusion, among other strange dramatizations, that surely reflects reality inside the war machine.

April 20, 2016

Thank you.

April 22, 2016

It is French. The answers are kind and give Hemingway the benefit of the doubt. Hemingway's English is notoriously bad, and his writing style is indeed weird. Not everyone thinks he is a good, let alone great, writer. He is probably just being a tourist, trying to show off his "languages", just as when he uses "wallah" elsewhere in the book (you asked about this yesterday). Sigh!

April 20, 2016

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