Atdtda29: Cyprian at sea, 821-822

[Paul Nightingale]

Last seen "[d]isappear[ing] behind the breakwater" on 815, Cyprian is now
surrounded by "butterfly-hunters, bird-watchers, widows and divorcees,
photographers, schoolgirls and their guardians", a disparate group, "all of
whom ... might be supposed foreign spies" (821). Vlado's history writes
"Christendom" as the Other (818-819); here, Cyprian's pov returns us to the
so-called Great Powers, among whom he numbers Great Britain. A passing
reference to Yashmeen, shot/reverse-shot, effectively distances the reader
from her and, by extension Vlado. Nonetheless, whereas Yashmeen can switch
off instantly, Cyprian goes on "see[ing] her pale phantom long after it
ought to have vanished" (821). Further, Cyprian's on the "inevitability to
arrival by water" will remind us of Yashmeen's own "[o]utward and visible
metaphor ... for the complete ensemble of 'free choices' that define the
course of a human life" on 811.

That "foreign spies" necessarily includes British operatives is
corroborated, down the page, by the reference to Bevis Moistleigh
"pretending to be a neurasthenic ..." etc. No distinction is drawn between
Britain and other powers active in the region, all of whom might have
"spies" masquerading as "butterfly-hunters ..." etc; but at the same time
Cyprian's supposed objectivity here is compromised by his association with
Bevis. Hence, the montage that takes us from Yashmeen's parting view of
Cyprian (815) to his view of her "fading into the crowds" (821) asserts a
pov that is immediately fractured, remaining so as Jacintha appears.

Jacintha is introduced before the appearance of Bevis; and Cyprian "learn[s]
with little effort" her backstory (822). Cf. "... without undue exercise of
the organs of fantasy ..." (821), not to mention the repetition of "...
might be supposed foreign spies" in "... charming everybody in her path,
including Cyprian, he supposed" (822). The latter passage inserts Cyprian
into the scene he observes from a distance.