Atdtda34: Details one had simply ignored, 954-956 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

Ljubica's freedom is Reef's "second chance", another reminder of Jesse. The
current chapter has featured several such reminders, or repetitions, for
both Reef and Cyprian. For Cyprian, the text recalls his career to date:
"old Ratty McHugh" (932) and the narrative that opens up thereafter, "the
moment in Salonica ..." etc (939), Gabrovo Slim (947), the introspection of
"the only thing he could be certain of ..." etc (949), the recognition of
Vamos (951), the final paragraph of 64.12 (954). However, Reef has
frequently provided repetition-as-translation: "[k]ind of like Omaha" and
"five dollars" (945), "holding Jesse the first time" (950), the reference to
Kit (950), the "second chance" (954). For Reef, then, these moments do not
advance the narrative as they do for Cyprian. In particular, Cyprian is
isolated by introspection (949, 954), even though the narrative has been
driven by the characters that he (re)introduces. Cf his perspective on the
Halkata (955). Here, wandering ("as if blindly obeying a compass fatally
sensitive to anomaly") is juxtaposed to the certainties of fate: the
"raptors" that presage "what was soon to break over [the country]", followed
by the "local curse" that hastens Cyprian's recollection of "[t]he last time
I was out here". If Reef resists transformation, Cyprian sees local culture
as an alternative to the past: "Details one had simply ignored at Cambridge
or Vienna ..." etc.