A Farewell to Arms dictionary–held upside down. The Italian translation had in fact already been prepared illegally in 1943 by Fernanda Pivano, leading to her arrest in Turin. A Farewell to Arms was met with favorable criticism and is considered one of Hemingway's best literary works. Gore Vidal wrote of the text: "... a work of ambition, in which can be seen the beginning of the careful, artful, immaculate idiocy of tone that since has marked ... [Hemingway's] prose." The last line of the 1929 "New York Times" review reads: "It is a moving and beautiful book." However, since publication, A Farewell to Arms
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber learn of Margot's adultery, punctuated by sleeping with Wilson the night after Francis' cowardly run. Wilson both kills Francis' wounded lion and has sex with his unhappy wife. Macomber both hates and needs Wilson in spite of this. As Wilson puts it, this is Francis' chance to come of age, to become a man. Note: Throughout the narrative, both Francis and Wilson have repeated moments of interior monologue, unreliable, but still their internal and highly critical thoughts about each other and Margot are repeatedly expressed. Rarely is Margot given this internal voice, and when it is allowed, it blurs with