Atdtda27: Daily get-together, 756-757

[Paul Nightingale]

If English and Russian camps were previously in opposition (“... comparable
luxuries were being enjoyed just across the courtyard by his Russian
opposite number”, 754, followed down the page by “... voices from the
British side of the courtyard”), here there is a routine meeting of their
two representatives, Mushtaq and Chingiz, “one of their daily get-togethers”
(756). Here, “Chingiz ... confide[s] to Mushtaq”; that their intimacy is in
marked contrast to the Great Game is indicated by the absence of any
distancing construction. Cf. “... voices from the British side of the
courtyard ... could be heard all over the establishment” (754); or “... from
Colonel Prokladka’s establishment could be heard the sound ...” etc (755).
Chingiz demonstrates local knowledge beyond the Powers, eg “this is not a
holy war” (756), and finally: “The Europeans will find great difficulty in
drawing maps of this” (757). Offered a close-up, one that excludes
extraneous marketplace detail throughout the Mushtaq/Chingiz passage, the
reader is hereby placed at a distance from Europeans, and even Americans
(the previous section beginning: “... Kit was heard to mutter ...” etc,
753). To confirm their complicity, Chingiz reminds Mushtag: “He is thy
shaman too” (757).

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