Atdtda34: Comradely persistence, 968-971 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

In 64.24 we find 'war unpredictably everywhere' (967) and the
resourcefulness of those who must survive, somehow. Any distinction between
combatants and non-combatants is blurred at best. However, in 64.25, with
the narrative dwelling on Reef/Yashmeen and their subjective response, war
is elsewhere, imagined, knowledge of it based on hearsay. Now, in 64.26, the
war is represented on 'postal cards' (968). The previous section ends with
'let's do it' and this section begins with '... as if they were only out
here on holiday', a disguise of sorts, perhaps. This line invokes the
imagined reading of an observer, the cards sent off 'in the sure and certain
hope of none arriving' (968) a part of the disguise. And then, later in this
section, we find 'the Chums of Chance ... invisibly but attentively keeping
an eye on the progress of Reef's family exfiltration ...' etc, bottom of
969. The intrusion of the Chums is key to the way Reef and Yashmeen are
represented here. (Not least, cf Reef reading The Chums of Chance at the
Ends of the Earth on 214-215, followed by: 'At odd moments, now, he found
himself looking at the sky, as if trying to locate somewhere in it the great
airship', 215.)

The 'one paved road somewhere' at the end of 64.25 has now become 'the
footpath to Sveti Naum' (968). The narrative takes up the earlier movement
of refugees and there is another reference to Monastir. Refugees are heading
in both directions, goals determined by their subjective needs; and border
guards are 'no longer sure ... whom they [are] reporting to'. Again, the
reference to authority brings into question the identity of those who wear a
uniform that has now separated from what it supposedly signifies. If,
earlier, there was no distinction made between combatants and
non-combatants, here the uniform that organises combatants has lost its
meaning. Down the page: 'the distinction between guerrillas and road agents
had become for the moment meaningless'.

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