Slovenes and Friuli as the Other in Hemingway

Uncovers submerged presence in A Farewell to Arms of two ethnic groups. Hemingway never mentions Slovenes and Friuli, but Johnston argues they play an integral role in his portrayal of the reality of the war in Italy and of the suffering they experienced at the hands of Italians on their borderlands within Austro-Hungary. Focuses on identity of two young, probably Slovene girls who, in the novel, appear during the Italian retreat at Caporetto, speak an unintelligible language, and elicit Frederic Henry’s compassion