ATDTDA (15): Ask your Tesla machine, 424-425

[Paul Nightingale]

The current section takes the form of a digression resulting in the Chums'
ability to avoid temptation; and now, bottom of 424, Trespassers are somehow
made identical to, or confused with, perhaps disguised as, the "human
supernumeraries" the section began with, perhaps some kind of bodysnatching
operation. The "lavatorial assaults" with which we began (5) have become
casserole-bombs. The Chums are no longer "carelessly aviating" (418), or
aloof; there are "differences of opinion ... on how best to proceed"
(424-425), which indicates a refusal to passively await orders (where this
latest episode began, of course).

Until, that is, the reappearance of Alonzo, "as if among them no history had
ever transpired" (425), the second time he has disappeared/reappeared; on
422 he is "heard from no more", so this is a different narrative space, the
Chums are no longer at the Academy, although their suspicious response to
Alonzo ("a disagreeable smile") indicates that the memory lingers. Alonzo
insists that a previous meeting might have taken place in Venice, "... only
I guess you didn't see us".

At which point "Higher Authority ... [chooses] once again to insert its own
weighty extremity into their lives". Alonzo is both "treacherous" and a
"duly authorised agent"; and his gift of "the enigmatic map" takes the Chums
back to Venice. Note Lindsay's repetition of "dissolution": on 407 he
explains/justifies the visit to Candlebrow as an attempt "to discover ...
some purpose to these ever-more-dangerous expeditions out upon which we are
ordered, our unreflective participation in which someday must surely, unless
we begin to take steps to promote our safety, end in our dissolution". So he
advocates some kind of proactive agency as a safety measure. Alonzo led them
to Mr Ace; the Academy beckoned. Post-Academy, Alonzo returns with the means
of their confinement, their return to reactive agency, ie 'obeying orders'.

In Venice, Ch20, Professor Svegli describes "two distinct versions of 'Asia'
out there, one an object of political struggle among the Powers of the
earth-the other a timeless faith by whose terms all such earthly struggle is
illusion" (249). The emphasis is on reading, with two distinct groups,
"[e]ach regard[ing] the other as a pack of deluded fools. He continues: "...
maps begin as dreams, pass through a finite life in the world, and resume as
dreams again" (250), all of which seems to apply to the current section. One
wonders if, for example, the message Plug brought the Chums, or rather "the
single sheet" (398), might not be a kind of map. The Chums ignored whatever
was written on the paper and focused on Plug's off-the-cuff reference to "d'
toime machine" (397); but if the message was a pretext designed to deliver
Plug it would serve as an indicator of the path to follow, ie a map. The
set-up (messenger delivers message, Chums leap into action) is similar in
each case, the only difference being that, here, the "deep, reverberant
voice" confirms the role of Higher Authority (425).