Davidson, Donald. "Perfect Behavior." In Monteiro, George, ed. Critical
Essays on Ernest Hemingway's A
Farewell to Arms. New
York: G.K.
Hall & Co., 1994: 84-87.
In this odd review published in
November, 1929, contemporary critic Donald Davidson accuses Frederic and
Catherine of being robots and all the soldiers, partly because of the cryptic
dialogue, which he mocks in a full page send-up. He accuses Hemingway of
trying to conduct a pseudo-scientific social experiment, at which he fails
miserably. He even mocks the ending, "like saying goodbye to a statue" by
calling the novel "a tragic sculpture done in butter."