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Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Idioms
Explanation and Analysis—French and English:
Cultural commentary abounds in Giovanni’s Room, and it informs David’s personal narration down to the work’s dialogue itself. Like its extended comparison of New York and Paris, the novel’s use of language exposes the sexual attitudes underlying French and American cultures.
Baldwin leaves stretches of dialogue in untranslated French, as though demonstrating its ability to accommodate a more expansive conception of love. French is the language of choice for Jacques, Guillaume, and Giovanni, who greet and curse each other in those terms. “Eh bien, ma chérie, comment vas-tu?” ("well, my darling, how are you?") Jacques sighs as he falls into Guillaume’s arms. Jacques imports the extravagance and excesses of his affections into this standard French expression. French enables its characters to celebrate their queerness, engage in snappy repartee, and let fly double entendres.
French is playful and inventive to the same degree that American English is brutish. The linguistic freedom afforded by French is denied by the American idiom, and the novel casts the language as French’s unimaginative counterpart. David’s requests for sex with Sue proceed through a ham-fisted, bawdy exchange about “stone walls.” In the letter to his father, David mimics the American manner of speech as he lies about his marriage proposal. “But she’s finally agreed to risk it, poor soft-headed thing that she is,” he writes—emphasizing weakness as the sole feminine attribute—to mimic the cooing, masculine affections of the straight American man. In French David curses and loves, and in English he undergoes erasure.
