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Date:         Sat, 10 Oct 1992 20:39:15 -0400
From:         IAN YORK <YORK@SSCVAX.CIS.MCMASTER.CA>
Subject:      The Lost Ones, installment 5

        The Lost Ones, installment 5 (?)
I think that (to pick the pace up a bit) I'll not cite the entire text.  My
version is Grove Press, 1972 (63 pages long) - unless there are other versions
I think we can cite page numbers and quote most relevant passages.  (I'm a
4 - 6 finger typist at best.)

. . . it offers certain refuge until the clamours subside.  The niches or
alcoves.  These are cavities [. .    . . .] cunningly out of line.  Such
harmony only he can relish whose long experience and detailed knowledge of
the niches are such as to permit a detailed mental image of the entire sys-
tem.  But it is doubtful that such a one exists.  For each climber has a
fondness for certain niches and refrains as far as possible from the others.
[...] It is as though at a certain stage discouragement had prevailed.  To
be noted in support of this wild surmise the existance of a long tunnel aban-
doned blind.  [...] Niches and tunnels are subject to the same light and cli-
mate as the rest of the abode.  So much for a first apercu of the abode.

        One body per square metre or two hundred bodies in all round figures.
Whether relatives near or far or friends in varying degree many in theory are
acquainted.  The gloom and press make recognition difficult. [...p. 13-14 =
description of searchers . . .] in the attitude which wrung from Dante one
of his rare wan smiles.

        A number of thoughts on this section:  Again the harmony references -
becoming quite overt here.  Also the comment of disharmony being deliberate
and worthy of appreciation per se (although the inhabitants are incapable of
recognizing it!)  The suggestion now that the abode was deliberately formed:
calling it an abode gives it a more protective aura than the earlier clini-
cal description implied.  "Construction" of the abode, though apparently
to a plan (cunningly misaligned tunnels), apparently done carelessly or
(more likely?) apathetically: the abandoned tunnel.  (Is there any evidence
that the inhabitants made the abode?  So far as I can see, they had nothing
to do with it - rather taken from elsewhere and thrown there.)
        Pretty obvious implications in the reference to Dante.  (What was the
attitude which wrung a wan smile?  This line and the 'wild surmise' line
are somehow jarring - intrusion of the author's opinions into an otherwise
indifferent commentary.)
        Back to harmony - the construction of the story is like a fugue:
introduction of the theme (description of the abode) followed by expansion
of the theme; then a pause and reversion to the original theme (size of the
cylinder) and further expansion; another pause and reversion to the first
theme (p. 16 - Inside a cylinder 50 meters high . . . ).  This also exists
on a smaller scale - the rhythm of the sentences - and the way a new topic
may be announced by a terse introduction followed by a gradual expansion
of the sentence, and ?a more relaxed rhythm (p. 9:  The ladders.  These are
the only objects.  They are single without exception . . .; p. 11:  The
niches or alcoves.  These are cavities sunk in that part of the wall. . . )
          Ian