Atdtda37: At which point Lew finally remembered, 1049-1051 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

The action is continuous, although the wording ('Roswell was saying .')
suggests that the reader has (re)appeared mid-scene. Or perhaps, given that,
in the previous section, they shared Lew's pov, Lew has been distracted by
what he sees, has been brought back to the here-&-now by Roswell's voice. It
might also be significant that, as the section opens, with an emphasis on
the reader's position, Roswell is discussing 'the future history of these
subjects' and also 'their pasts'.

As in the previous section, what Lew hears reminds him of something: here,
what Roswell says of 'little folks . choos[ing] different paths' reminds him
of his own experience of bilocation: he becomes 'one of those little folks
in the pictures'. Lew's introspection is then succeeded by Merle's account
of '[g]orillas out in the alley, just standing, smoking, watching' (1050):
he has moved on from Roswell's description of 'those little folks in the
pictures' (1049), one kind of surveillance to another. The case of Louis Le
Prince is a mystery that, apparently, cannot be solved (1050, the promises
offered on the previous page notwithstanding), all of which gives Lew an
opportunity to demonstrate professional competence ('you've had a long
career of gumshoeing .' etc). On 1049 he wonders about a resource that would
help his 'gumshoeing', much as Emilio did earlier in the chapter
(1044-1045); by the end of the current section his ability to offer good
advice ('see a lawyer', followed by '[find] you some legal protection',
1051) has been mocked. Beyond the law means outside history.

 

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