Miroslav Krležas Mehrsprachigkeit

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how M. Krleža takes advantage of the adaptabilities of multilingualism in his short story Hrvatski bog Mars. Soldiers from different linguistic areas served in the Austro-Hungarian multilingual army who needed to acquire the military language as well. However, establishing conversations with officers and soldiers of other languages was detained by misunderstandings and incomprehension, which lead to tragic and tragicomic consequences. The different social dialects created situations for talking at cross purposes, while the voided multilingualism of the upper classes signed cultural decadence, the coming of the end