that other girl ... that crude and unsatisfactory experiment

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "that other girl ... that crude and unsatisfactory experiment", and I am wondering what it means in the following sentences:

He lay still and considered sleep. But it was a tantalizingly evasive subject.
Think about women then or eating. Think about eating women, eating men, crunching up Alfred, that other girl, that boy, that crude and unsatisfactory experiment, lie restful as a log and consider the gnawed tunnel of life right up to this uneasy intermission.

- William Golding, Pincher Martin, Chapter 6

This is a novel published in the United Kingdom in 1956. The novel mainly follows the state of mind of a sailor called Christopher "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who is apparently desperately fighting for his life in the Atlantic after the military ship has sunk. Here, he has arrived at an island in the sea. He is now trying to sleep.

Here, by "that other girl," I assume he is thinking a particular woman, but I wonder why it has to be "that other girl" instead of just "that girl."
Also, I wonder whether, by "that crude and unsatisfactory experiment," the narrator thinks some experiment that he has done, such as some created work of his. (I remember that he was a writer before serving in the Navy.) But... this is just my guess.

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

If he has already mentioned one girl then "that other girl" might make sense.

By "that crude and unsatisfactory experiment" he might be referring to his own life, but who can tell?

Is he fantasizing about eating people?

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.

If he has already mentioned one girl then "that other girl" might make sense.

Actually, there was no mention about one girl; this thinking started abruptly because of the stream-of-consciousness technique, I guess. That was why I was wondering about this "that other girl."

And, by "that crude and unsatisfactory experiment", he could mean his entire life as you suggest; or he could mean some act he has done during his life... Hmm! Very difficult to guess.

Is he fantasizing about eating people?

I am guessing that he is mentioning eating as one way to conquest other beings. He previously talked about eating with his voice, and his fists, et cetera, as in the following quote:

You could eat with your cock or with your fists, or with your voice. You could eat with hobnailed boots or buying and selling or marrying and begetting or cuckolding——

I truly appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

I guess you mean:

conquer other beings.

(Weird stuff.)

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
Now I realized that "conquest" is a noun form of "conquer." Yes, I definitely meant "conquer."
I truly appreciate your help.

 

[probus]

That's actually a little bit wrong, CoffeeBreak. While it is true that conquest is the noun corresponding to conquer, when we speak of a sexual conquest we never use the verb conquer.

 

[Coffee Break]

@probus,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So "conquest" is used for "a sexual conquest" rather than "conquer".
I truly appreciate your help.