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).