Atdtda24: Ever-thickening gloom, 689-691

[Paul Nightingale]

Renfrew/Werfner is a version of the basic mathematical construct, the
equation: the same, but different. Hence the implied comparison that opens
this section, Renfrew taken from Lew's pov: his judgement here is far from
final, less so, perhaps, than Renfrew's own conclusion at the bottom of the
page. From here we shift to the juxtaposition of macro/micro, the
description of Renfrew's appearance superseded by the "gigantic
ten-miles-to-the-inch map of the Balkans". Renfrew then juxtaposes one
overview, the spatial, to another, what he calls "a single timeless
snapshot". At the outset, Lew compares the Renfrew he sees before him to
previous versions (ie "... as close to desperation as Lew could recall")
while comparing him to Werfner.

Starting in the previous section, Lew's interest in Renfrew/Werfner has been
inseparable from his concern with his own fate, his own "timeless snapshot"
on 688-689 and "the bilocational version of himself" (689) that reappears on
690. Another equation: "... in both places both Lew Basnights would be
getting the same offended narrow stare". In this section Lew continues as an
audience/reader (= interpreter), provoking Renfrew's lengthy speech,
explication (of a kind) for the reader's benefit: cf. recent scenes with the
Ns (685), Dr Ghloix (686-687) and the Cohen (687-688). Eventually he drifts
away from such storytellers, finding himself, at Fenners, isolated: "... the
world all at once evacuated, as if in response to a civic warning everyone
but Lew had heard" (691). Is the stranger he meets here a figment of his
imagination? Either way, this is a moment beyond Lew-the-reader/detective.

The closing, somewhat offhand reference to the cricket match is apposite:
the implication is that I Zingari, reading the playing conditions (ie "a
rather damp pitch"), have won the toss and asked Cambridge to bat first. In
such a situation the result might be deemed, if not predictable, then
more-likely-than-not. Cf. Renfrew's earlier reference to chess (689):
playing with the black pieces puts you at a slight disadvantage (admittedly,
there is no coin toss involved). If Cambridge win the toss and ask I Zingari
to bat first, a similar result (ie victory for the side batting second)
would/might be expected. One 'version' of the game becomes a mirror image of
the other.