ATDTDA (8): Classical English Rose(s), 227-232

[Paul Nightingale]

Meeting Mme Eskimoff, “Lew [is] enchanted right away”,
pretty much as he was when meeting Yashmeen (222); and
her “steady and speculative gaze” (228) recalls the
way Yashmeen dealt with Lew. If baffled by the
discursive mysteries offered by the Ns and the Cohen,
he is more comfortable it seems when dealing with
women he (thinks he) can admire: another way to think
of “traditional readings” (225). The paragraph dealing
with his first impressions in fact carries an insert:
“other nights ...” etc implies a narrative voice quite
independent of Lew here, an attempt to generalise
before returning to “that uniquely snot-nosed British
anti-Semitism”, the phrasing of which implies an
alignment with Lew. The ending of this paragraph
(“what in fact she turned out to be, confoundingly,
was a classical English Rose”) recalls the cards
(225-226). 

Crouchmas is “at a quite low, beginner’s level” (228),
another “neophyte” to be juxtaposed to Lew: as the
Cohen puts it, “not the voice of Allah in these
matters” (229). The Cohen continues to speak in
generalities, as though seeking any opportunity to
impose himself at a meta-textual level. Discussing the
explosion, “Lew feel[s] somewhat out of his depth”
(230); and Mme E speaks--evasively, mysteriously--of
“Death [as] a region of metaphor”. The Cohen, however,
speaks with certainty, even when demonstrating a
degree of ignorance: “Not always decipherable ... but
in this case Eastern-Questionable, beyond a doubt.”
And then: “Not immediately clear which will murder the
other, but the crime itself is as certain as the full
moon.”

This is the context for his lengthy digression
(“unable quite to let go of the topic”) concerning
another English Rose (who isn’t): the Wildeian
scenario he describes connects Victoria to her postal
image, as well as to R/W and the tarot (231). Lew
(“dismayed”) is taken in, until the Cohen informs him
this is “[o]nly a bit of fun”. The juxtaposition of “a
bit of fun” to “so serious” implies the same kind of
alternate realities (“lateral world[s], 230) that have
attached to Lew’s character throughout. Moreover, in a
narrative that has focused so relentlessly on the
writing of patriatchal discourse(s), it is certainly
noteworthy that Victoria--the third strong woman to be
featured in this chapter--represents patriarchy as
much as any man.

Cf. the descriptions of Mme E (“confoundingly, ... a
classical English Rose, 227) and, earlier, Yashmeen
(from “a seventeenth-degree Adept” to “really only old
Yashmeen”, 221): in each case the woman in
question--viewed from the viewpoint of men--invites
interpretation, just as much as Lake did in Ch16
(189-190).

To go further back, cf. the introduction of Penny
Black: “That’s ‘Captain’ to you.” (18)

At the end of the previous section, Lew indicates the
possibility of women voting. Yashmeen “scowl[s]” her
scepticism: “Not in your lifetime.” (225) The reader
will ‘know’ that Lew is in fact correct here, and
Yashmeen ‘mistaken’, even as he insists--foreshadowing
the Cohen--it’s “[o]nly a bit of fun”. Of course,
Yashmeen might also have a point if voting doesn’t
actually signify a changing world, the dismantling of
patriarchy.