Atdtda33: Under the paving, 944-946

[Paul Nightingale]

The chapter begins on 931 with one imagined community and here is another,
Sofia, "re-imagined in the thirty-odd years since the Turks had been driven
out" (944). If "the Anarchist spa of Yz-les-Bains" (931) offers an
alternative to capitalism, 'modernised' Sofia associates progress with
rationalisation, albeit the kind that will lead to Cyprian's "dismay" (944).
As with Professor Sleepcoat, the details might prove elusive. Gruntling
emphasises economic 'reality' of the kind ("budget overruns") that fails to
register with the Professor, even though, later, Sleepcoat's powers of
recollection have become rather more effective: on 946 a song has "enter[ed]
into the grooves of [his] memory". Moreover, if the "winding alleyways,
mosques ..." etc (944) are hidden by "Europeanis[ation]", one might also
note the Professor's point about "anonymous urchins" underpinning Western
culture (945). Yashmeen hints at an alternative reading of history, that of
"shamefully underpaid labor", but this is a "discussion" that depends on the
availability of "leisure": without discussion, or utterance, ie "other
circs", such a reading is lost, as are the songs the Professor seeks to
preserve.

Arriving in Yz-les-Bains Cyprian/Yashmeen/Reef encountered another
threesome, Ratty/Jenny/Sophrosyne (932). Here, they meet the Professor's
"party" (944), another group defined by difference. Their identity is based
less on shared beliefs than on bureaucratic ties defined by financial
accountability. Hence, of prime importance, is the role played by Gruntling
as overseer: he must ensure that each day is predictable, starting with the
allocation of funds "for meals usually on the run ... and someplace to doss
in the evenings" (945; and cf the section's final words on "money
everywhere", 946). Again, the use of local currency is necessary if they
wish to integrate successfully in the local economy, but the Professor
("only a quid") and Reef ("five dollars" following his "[k]ind of like
Omaha") reiterate an outsider status. They remain visitors.

And then ("One nightfall ...") the transition from the general to the
particular: a "young tenor voice" that, as a signifier, does not surrender
meaning ("which at first he took ...") as easily as currency that can be
'translated'. The Professor, recognising the song as "words only the young
ha[ve] any right to sing, is again reminded of his outsider/visitor status:
the song he memorises is associated with his own "regrets and sorrows and so
forth" (946), so once more meaning is imposed by
subjectivity/interpretation. The outsider/visitor is defined in both
temporal and spatial terms. In this passage the Professor is isolated,
separated from others with whom he might share the experience, even record
it. Subsequently, it will be Orpheus ("on the brain") that he raises in
conversation with Yashmeen and Gruntling. This is a "discussion" that they
do now have the necessary "leisure" to pursue, and the earlier, abandoned,
discourse re-emerges in the form of conflict over "male insecurity" and
"female lust for wealth". The final word is given to Gruntling ("there is
money everywhere") as a reminder of the primacy granted capitalist
rationalisation.