On Talwin, a radio conversation between Djana and Dominic Flandry:
"'Nicky?'
"'Here, wishing I were there,' he acknowledged, trying for lightness. But the volcano growled in stone and air.
"'Don't show surprise,' said the quick Anglic words. 'This is terrible news.'
"'I'm alone,' he answered. How very alone. Night gnawed at his vision." (p. 312)
As ever, nature punctuates dialogue. The volcano growls at his attempted lightness and he feels his aloneness as night falls.
She has to say goodbye to him forever. Again appropriately, his speech is "...muffled in the clouds..." whereas hers is "...tiny as if infinitely removed." (p. 313) The physical circumstances of their communication echo the personal distance that has come between them.
I will continue to reread the novel and no doubt to find such details but maybe not as frequently as before.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
At least I understood right away that the growling volcano indicated danger and menace to Flandry! And I remember his surprise at how different Djana seemed to him: more coherent, organized, businesslike. Due, of course, to Ydwyr's attempted remolding of her personality.
Ad astra! Sean
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