Atdtda30: Ease of concealment, 852-853

[Paul Nightingale]

On 849 Reef is introduced by name, and the scene set economically. Here,
Yashmeen appears as "she", only named after the appearance of Vlado (top of
853) has effectively identified her (they were last seen fucking on 820).
The reader joins the action mid-scene, "[a]fter weeks of torches ..." etc
(852), Vlado having already "entrusted to Yashmeen a green schoolboy's
copybook" (853). This is where Yashmeen's name appears, in relation to a
book "[w]hose pages [are] filled with encrypted field-notes ..." etc. This
text looks forward, invokes the future, notable "for what it promise[s]"
(and appears because Vlado might have "seen some lethal obstacle ahead").
The "she" of the section's opening line might be considered inscrutable, a
signifier that has to be nailed down. We might surmise that, having
substituted "Yashmeen" for "she", we can infer the meaning of her question,
ie something to do with her relationship with Vlado; but her possession of
the "secret lore he'd been sworn never to reveal" is denied any kind of
narrative logic here.

If we go back to 818, 57.10 begins with a journey to Zengg, Vlado saying: "I
have to show you this". His words are immediately interpreted by the
narrative voice ("He meant ...") but Yashmeen remains ignorant: "... she
didn't understand until it was too late to matter". As they consider the
sea, "[s]tationary waves" become "[s]entries". Back to 59.3 and an
"impenetrable code" (853). The book itself might be of questionable
provenance, Vlado suggesting it might be "a fake" aimed at "the gullibility
of American millionaires". So it invokes both future and past.

At the top of the page we find a "roar louder than crying, or speech, blood
finding its voice". Further down, Yashmeen queries the rationale for the
book's existence, given that it appears to supplant an oral tradition,
something "passed on face-to-face". If the book is unreadable, somewhat like
"the roar louder than crying ." etc, it becomes an end in itself, requiring
no reader whatsoever. It becomes a "quaint, native artifact" awaiting, yes,
the arrival of tourists for whom the impossibility of reading is
prerequisite.

At the end of the section Yashmeen has accepted the book's "humility, its
ease of concealment". Perhaps this "ease of concealment" is something she
can identify with.