Sentence:  The war makes many oblique appearances in a work which, despite its saturation with traditional images, is regarded as a <WSD>waypost</WSD> of artistic modernism because of its fashionable anthropological references, jazz-like rhythms and random snatches of the pulsing city's polyphonic argot. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Something that guides or marks the way along a figurative journey; a temporary stopping point.