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3/52 hx
Jan 3, 2023 11:44
1 yr ago
69 viewers *
English term

have nothing to do with a woman who is diseased

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
I am translating an Ellen La Motte book "The Backwash of War" about WWI atrocities witnessed by a nurse of a field hospital. I am interested in this part:


A woman nurse came down the ward. She was the only one, and she tried to cover him with the fallen bedding. Marius attempted to clutch her hand, to encircle her with his weak, delirious, amorous arms. She dodged swiftly, and directed an orderly to cover him with the fallen blankets.
Marius laughed in glee, a fiendish, feeble, shrieking laugh. “HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH A WOMAN WHO IS DISEASED!” he shouted. “Never! Never! Never!”

I have put the phrase that interests me in capitals. Does he mean "I have nothing to do with a diseased woman" or "[He] who is diseased doesn't have anything to do with a woman"?

Thank you.
Responses
3 +7 You (universal you)/any man should never have anything to do/any interaction with a diseased woman
4 +2 He wants nothing to do with her IF she is diseased

Discussion

Daniil Lebedev (asker) Jan 6, 2023:
Thank you, Tony and Alison, I think you are right!
Daniil Lebedev (asker) Jan 5, 2023:
Thank you, Tony and Alison, I think you are right!
Daniil Lebedev (asker) Jan 5, 2023:
Thank you, Tony and Alison, I think you are right!
Tony Keily Jan 4, 2023:
I think it's an ironic reference to military rules The patient, for what ever reason, tries to embrace the nurse. When she rejects him, he quotes guidelines issued to soldiers to avoid STDs. This was pretty standard advice: "the only real way to avoid disease is to avoid diseased women entirely" (see discussion:https://digpodcast.org/2020/05/31/sex-soldiers-combatting-se...
Daniil Lebedev (asker) Jan 4, 2023:
Thank you, Tony and Alison, I think you are right!
philgoddard Jan 3, 2023:
In fact, here's the book itself. The sentence is on page 30 of the PDF, and he's been ranting for about the last six pages.
http://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Backwash_of_War/BQdW...
philgoddard Jan 3, 2023:
That was good detective work, Alison!
FPC Jan 3, 2023:
@ Tony Yes , presumably a matter of "sour grapes"
Tony M Jan 3, 2023:
@ Alison No worries! Your contribution is as ever pertinent and immensely helpful!
Alison MacG Jan 3, 2023:
@Tony Sorry, Tony. I didn't see your entry before posting.
Alison MacG Jan 3, 2023:
One take on this From Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War By Kimberly Jensen
Tony M Jan 3, 2023:
@ Asker et al. It could just be his way of making an excuse for her 'rejection' — turning it round to make it sound as if he were the rejector, on the grounds that she was "unclean". I've (unbelievably!) heard things like this said, a guy who was given the brush-off couldn't accept that every woman wouldn't fancy him, so claimed she must be lesbian! Here, possibly, the implication might be "carrying an STD".
Christopher Schröder Jan 3, 2023:
It doesn't make sense, I agree. Maybe the author meant to write "man". But as it stands, it says woman, so what can you do?
Daniil Lebedev (asker) Jan 3, 2023:
But she doesn't have any disease. It is he who is diseased. That's why I found this sentence problematic.
José Patrício Jan 3, 2023:
As they were in a hospital the metaphor about ill people emerges naturally, and what he means humorously is that she is not ill, to fly away from him. It’s an irony.
Lisa Rosengard Jan 3, 2023:
I expect he means that he wishes to have no contact with a woman who has a disease and he orders the nurse to consider the same.

Responses

+7
23 mins
Selected

You (universal you)/any man should never have anything to do/any interaction with a diseased woman

The sentence has the form of an injuction, a general one, a maxim. Imagine the verb in the imperative. The man says to himself and to all men in general to never get involved with a a diseased woman (probably referring to the nurse as the 'diseased woman').
Note from asker:
Why would he refer to the nurse as a "diseased woman"?
Peer comment(s):
agree Amanda Foy
4 mins
agree Clauwolf
17 mins
agree Charlotte Fleming
24 mins
agree Ivan Martynov : agree
32 mins
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : He is in no condition to be making pronouncements
43 mins
agree philgoddard : He's calling her diseased because he's delirious. But he is making pronouncements, so I don't understand Yvonne's comment.
2 hrs
agree liz askew
2 hrs
agree Daryo : but it's important to add the logic behind that reaction, what is known in psychology as "sour grapes and sweet lemons" // see https://thebarkingcat.net/of-sour-grapes-and-sweet-lemons/
1 day 16 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+2
30 mins

He wants nothing to do with her IF she is diseased

But this isn't true. HE is the one who is feverish and diseased and whi is trying to grab her hand.

Clearly she is NOT diseased as she is able to dodge away from him so quickly and gets the orderly to pull the blankets over him

So it seems a strange thing fir him to say, but then people don't think straight when feverish so maybe he imagines she is the one who is diseased because she pulls away from him he is feverish


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 49 mins (2023-01-03 12:33:30 GMT)
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He is "delirious"

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Note added at 1 hr (2023-01-03 12:49:09 GMT)
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Yes, it says he is "delirious" so likely to be imaging things certainly NOT in a position to be making pronouncements.
So it's clear he is the one diseased. Nothing wrong with the nurse who decides she really doesn't want to be grabbed/ groped by him

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2023-01-03 12:50:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Typo: imagining (things)

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Note added at 1 day 6 hrs (2023-01-04 17:49:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

now that I have read all the story I think the fact it's emphasised several times that he is "delirious" and "dying" and in pain so he is just shouting out reactionary responses. These types of reactions are probably ingrained in him so need no thought or consideration before ranting.

He seems to be a rather nasty character who dislikes everyone and/or has a superiority complex.

However, I fail to see HOW it is "an injuction (sic), a general one, a maxim". He is not there in his deathbed thinking of maxims! He is reacting to each situation as it occurs and responding right away.

As Alison has shown, the comment here is likely to be misogynistic: because the nurse has pulled away from him he is annoyed and shouts that SHE is the diseased one just as he probably shouts at heroes that they are cowards etc.
Note from asker:
Yes, that's why I started having doubts. I didn't understand why he would refer to a nurse as a "diseased woman".
Peer comment(s):
agree Julio Carrero
13 mins
Many thanks:-)
agree Emmanuella
1 hr
Many thanks:-)
neutral Daryo : I don't see any "if" in this text, only a case of "sour grapes" (as per your final explanation) https://thebarkingcat.net/of-sour-grapes-and-sweet-lemons/
1 day 16 hrs
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