GR translation: gathering him, surrounding

[Mike Jing]

V235.37-40, P238.32-36   . . . The stink of shit floods his nose,
gathering him, surrounding. It is the smell of Passchendaele, of the
Salient. Mixed with the mud, and the putrefaction of corpses, it was
the sovereign smell of their first meeting, and her emblem.

What does "gathering" mean here?
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l