Atdtda33: Dialects suddenly gone opaque, 946-948

[Paul Nightingale]

If the previous section deals with a 'recovery' of 'the past', one that
remains problematic, the new section begins by taking us back to the mapping
of war on 936-938, specifically Ratty's description of a "general European
war" (938). Since then, working with Professor Sleepcoat has been
subterfuge; hence, "[t]he main task for Reef, Cyprian and Yashmeen ..." etc
(946). We now return to the quest, as described earlier by Reef, "to go out
and disarm [the Interdikt field]" (938). The wording here on 946 is similar
("The main task ... was locating the Interdikt line and disabling it") and
puts the emphasis on agency: as part of the Professor's party,
Reef/Cyprian/Yashmeen have been tied to, perhaps disabled by, their cover
story. The meeting with Gabrovo Slim will provide serendipity.

Professor Sleepcoat has pursued popular culture in the form of an oral
tradition of song, transforming it into a permanent record, one that will
claim the status of objectivity: "a ... melody he had never heard before,
and knew he would never hear again" (945) is no longer unique once captured
and transformed into some kind of record. However, the challenge now is to
find what lies beyond traces on a map. Local inhabitants encountered here
are, as before, being asked to sing: the map, however, makes them "[shift]
their eyes away and even [begin] to tremble, conferring in dialects suddenly
gone opaque" (946): such opacity is not a problem for the Professor on 945.

At the bottom of 946 the Professor is in pursuit of "a variant"; if, above
on 945, he had in mind an 'original', he now contemplates one of several
competing versions (and we might bear in mind that Foucault prefers to speak
of 'beginnings' or 'emergence' rather than origins). At this point, "their
luck [takes] a turn" (946); and we end up at the wedding, where Gabrovo Slim
reappears (947). He will prove rather more loquacious than "the good folk"
described on 946.

The range of alternative songs, none of which can claim to be first, is
echoed by the "variety of appealing partners" (947) for Reef; and there is a
reference to Yashmeen's child as another emergence. Cyprian and Gabrovo Slim
'disagree' and offer competing versions of their past relationship; and then
Gabrovo Slim identifies his "wife's little sister" as another expectant
mother. The coincidence of pregnancies offers R/Y/C another group to join.