ATDTDA (21): Not all that hard to prove, 588-594

[Paul Nightingale]

Kit meets Yashmeen when she introduces herself with a Westian joke(589). Her
presence has been signalled by Gottlob and Humfried. Initially, Kit is
unable to see her (588), so he 'knows' her through their description before
seeing her for himself; although there is no indication of where exactly in
the text he turns to begin forming his own judgement. By the time she speaks
they have disappeared. Subsequently Yashmeen also disappears, from Kit's
room (592); briefly, the narrative adopts her pov as she stands in the
street, before returning to Kit and his surprise at what has happened, an
inability perhaps to 'believe his eyes'.

The section opens with Kit remarking on the smell, thinking of the tannery
(588); so in the first instance what he sees is of less importance. Gottlob
tells him he should "sit facing the door ..." etc, in order to see better.
The exchange over the monacle indicates misunderstanding, so "[s]mells like"
has become 'sounds like'. Yashmeen is introduced as "our 'Gottingen
Kovalevskaia'". Yashmeen begins by noting Kit's accent, ie 'doesn't sound
like' (589); and then her Mae West line then introduces 'looks like'. Kit's
opening "[s]mells like" becomes "[looks/seems] like a silver camp ..." etc
by the bottom of the second page. Later, following Yashmeen's departure from
his room, Kit (or the text on his behalf) notes that "it was not even a door
to begin with, but something designed to allow the human brain to interpret
it as a door" (592).

A lot of equations, then, the context for their first discussion of maths,
when he offers to demonstrate the solution: "I could show you." (590)

If Yashmeen replaced Gottlob/Humfried in the bier-house, so do they replace
her in Kit's room (593). It seems they are inseparable. Gottlob wants to
know where Yashmeen is, but the talk immediately passes to mathematics. The
appearance of G/H, and information that they are "seldom noted apart"
reminds us of the two Ns in Cambridge, and indeed Neville's infatuation with
Yashmeen (489). However, the narration quickly renders her, so to speak,
'invisible' by focusing on mathematics as a means to differentiate Gottlob
(Felix Klein etc) from Humfried (Latin etc). Narration introduces Kronecker;
Gottlob and Kit immediately pursue that topic.

By the end of the section Kit is confined to seeing Yashmeen from a
distance, "now and then, usually across the smoke-clouded depths of some
disreputable Kneipe by the river. But seldom to talk to" (594). Cf. his
relationship of sorts with Pleiade: "Kit continued to catch sight of Pleiade
Lafrisee now and then ..." etc (560). Or even, further back, with Dally
aboard the Stupendica: "It had begun to seem as if she and Kit were on
separate vessels ..." etc (514).