Atdtda30: Gazed at, though not in an y predictable way, 841-842

[Paul Nightingale]

Pausing in Pljevlje with "Austrian garrisons ... in the process of pulling
out", the town undergoing transformation, part of the turning of "some great
apocalyptic wheel". Cyprian and Danilo are caught up in history, then, as
they "get their bearings". Danilo, meanwhile, is thinking of Salonika. Home
versus history; and only now, it seems, does he feel he has been in exile.
Helpfully, Cyprian reminds the reader that this is where they will find
"Vesna and whatnot". The exchange between Danilo and Cyprian is then cut by
a narrative voice speaking with the authority of history: "Back in January
..." etc. Reduced to a walk-on part, so to speak, very much supporting cast,
Cyprian is juxtaposed to "chattering drafts of youngsters in ill-fitting
uniforms", and otherwise silent as they continue to travel south, only
speaking when, towards the end of the section, they reach Salonika. His
speech in the closing paragraph is offered as an alternative to what he
might have said, "[o]nce, in another life" (842). Cynicism replaced by
infatuation, he is "possessed ... by a smile he could not control".

The journey they make is described from a distance. The "notional railway
not yet built" and "phantom rolling-stock of military and farm-wagons" are
eventually replaced by "a physical or material train" as though the fantasy
they have harboured is willed into being. But this "element of diplomacy
waiting to enter material existence", as much a signifier of international
relations as treaties/agreements signed by "reptilian foreign minister[s]",
is preceded by masses in transit.

As they travel, Cyprian is objectified, "gazed at now and then ... as if by
comrades-in-arms" etc: what he sees is himself being seen, made sense of. He
is aware of the possibility that he might be elsewhere. And then,
"unaccountably", Vesna appears from nowhere to pounce on Danilo, ignoring
Cyprian entirely: as the paragraph and section end, "[n]obody notice[s]" his
weeping. Back up the page, he is "gazed at ... though not in any predictable
way", after being earlier linked to "chattering youngsters in ill-fitting
uniforms" (841). Cf. the previous section's reference to "handsome and
muscular" irregulars just the other side of the section break between 58.11
and 58.12.