Atdtda25: It does make a difference, 715-720

[Paul Nightingale]

A routine is established: "the same back exit" used, but Cyprian
"immeasurably fatter, even to the casual surveillant". However, seeking out
"his old sanctuary of desire the Prater" is "nostalgia for its own sake";
and Cyprian gravitates towards "quarters of the city he would not, as
recently as months ago, even fleetingly have considered". His progress here
recalls Kit aboard the Stupendica, "preferring the environment [in fourth
class] over his palatial accommodations a couple-three decks up" etc (511).
Kit's Slothropian transformation in those pages is not replicated by Cyprian
here (even if the latter's weight gain is a nod in that direction); but
Cyprian enjoys the picaresque. On 715 "[h]e [keeps] blundering into huge
Socialist demonstrations" in Favoriten; and over the page he walks into
Yashmeen, a fortuitous encounter that results from overheard music. The
narrative shifts to Yashmeen and her employment at the
dressmaker/milliner's: perhaps another echo of Kit on the Stupendica, ie his
employment in the engine room (519), just as it replays the previous
section's shift from Cyprian to Theign. Indeed, Cyprian's meeting with
Yashmeen here revises the way Kit and Dally are kept apart, "as if ... on
separate vessels" etc (514). Moreover, the two versions of the ship are now
replaced by two 'versions' of Venice with the introduction of "a popular
facsimile of Venice known as Venedig in Wien" (717), for Yashmeen "the real
Venice, the one I never get to see". Over the page, the unknown Shambhala (a
'real' place) will be transformed into "[t]he Shambhalan Question", or
political discourse (718).

Hence, the gap between world and its representation is collapsed, just as
the narrative offers endless variation. Here, Cyprian "[cannot] remember
seeing [Yashmeen] quite this miserable" and wants "to see her somehow
restored to her old impossible ways": like the gondola, then, she is "a ...
facsimile" (717). Or perhaps an equation. Further down the page, Ratty says
Yashmeen "always made [him] think of Hypatia"; for Cyprian, she is "[m]ore
of a sibyl these days". Cf. Kit on 594, insisting that, "[w]henever I see
one [them Zetas], it reminds me of you". Cyprian tries to nail down meaning
("Perhaps because of some rogue psychic gift ..." etc, 717); and in the
process mimics Theign's shift on 709-710 from the individual to history
(718). Similarly, "the simple reunion" and "spell of appropriate theatre"
recall Theign's hand on Cyprian's leg (702).

Whereas Venice can be reproduced without difficulty, the Gottingen Russians
discussed here have to be 'real', "the same Russians [Yashmeen] remember[s]"
(718). She cannot say, and Ratty revises the wording of his question to
offer another take on similitude, eg "[f]or or against the Tsar ..." etc.