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[NABOKOV-L] Carousing Hunters and Dreyer
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"I just fill in the gaps of the picture, of this jigsaw puzzle which is quite clear in my mind, picking out a piece here and a piece there and filling out the sky and part of the landscape and part of the - I don't know, the carousing hunters." (V.Nabokov, SO, 16/17)
Nabokov's casual addition of "hunters" in the sentence, quoted above, may show how his fictional characters predominantly belong to the "predator/prey" world.* and how the mood for "homo homini lupus" is set.
VN's irony, in placing together "carousing" and "hunters," adds a fresh turn to this commentary - ie, woe to the hunters who carouse, for they'll certainly become the next prey.
Although we regularly find references to Nabokov's pity and compassion in his novels ( eg. Rorty's on "The Barber of Kasbeam" and, recently, how to take pity on poor humiliated Wild), there is another kind of reversion readers might equally exercise and then feel real compassion towards Wild's creator, Nabokov himself, for his last courageous attempt to keep on writing, inspite of adversities and sufferings. In my eyes TOoL is about real despair, it is not purely a work of fiction.
btw: While perusing Strong Opinions I came across a reference to Juanita Dark, unrelated to Bresson/Bernano.
Here it is: "Dreyer's "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc [1928] was superb, and I loved the French films of René Clair..." (Nabokov, page 164, Strong Opinions).
Luiz F. Gallego informs me that Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) is a Danish director, who produced several other masterpieces (1943, Dies Irae, for example)and that the French surrealist poet and drama-theoretician, Antonin Artaud, appears in Dreyer's 1928 movie.
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* - Carolyn Kunin suggested to me Don B. Johnson's book on painting and Nabokov, for his references to Brueghel and other Dutch painters (with carousing peasants and winter hunting scenes).
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Nabokov's casual addition of "hunters" in the sentence, quoted above, may show how his fictional characters predominantly belong to the "predator/prey" world.* and how the mood for "homo homini lupus" is set.
VN's irony, in placing together "carousing" and "hunters," adds a fresh turn to this commentary - ie, woe to the hunters who carouse, for they'll certainly become the next prey.
Although we regularly find references to Nabokov's pity and compassion in his novels ( eg. Rorty's on "The Barber of Kasbeam" and, recently, how to take pity on poor humiliated Wild), there is another kind of reversion readers might equally exercise and then feel real compassion towards Wild's creator, Nabokov himself, for his last courageous attempt to keep on writing, inspite of adversities and sufferings. In my eyes TOoL is about real despair, it is not purely a work of fiction.
btw: While perusing Strong Opinions I came across a reference to Juanita Dark, unrelated to Bresson/Bernano.
Here it is: "Dreyer's "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc [1928] was superb, and I loved the French films of René Clair..." (Nabokov, page 164, Strong Opinions).
Luiz F. Gallego informs me that Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) is a Danish director, who produced several other masterpieces (1943, Dies Irae, for example)and that the French surrealist poet and drama-theoretician, Antonin Artaud, appears in Dreyer's 1928 movie.
................................................................
* - Carolyn Kunin suggested to me Don B. Johnson's book on painting and Nabokov, for his references to Brueghel and other Dutch painters (with carousing peasants and winter hunting scenes).
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/