108

when one crossed the bridge, it seemed as though the Seine drew along with it, through the sleeping city, the refuse of the town, crumbs fallen from the tables, bows of lace left on couches, false hair forgotten in cabs, bank-notes slipped out of bodices, all that the brutality of desire and the immediate satisfaction of an instinct flung into the street bruised and sullied. Then, amid the feverish sleep of Paris, and even better than during its breathless quest in broad daylight, one felt the unsettling of the brain, the golden and voluptuous nightmare of a city madly enamoured of its gold and its flesh. The violins sounded till midnight; then the windows became dark, and shadows descended upon the city. It

109

was like a colossal alcove in which the last candle had been blown-out, the last remnant of shame extinguished. There was nothing left in the depths of the darkness save a great rattle of furious and wearied love; while the truleries[?], at the waterside, stretched out their arms into the night, as though for a huge embrace.

p134

La Curée was written during 1871-72. The Kill, La Curée refers to the skinned carcass of a wild animal which is thrown to the hunting pack.

God knows, all is vanity in this world! Everyone hangs by a thread, at any moment the abyss may open beneath our feet, and yet we go out of our way to invent all sorts of trouble for ourselves to spoil our lives.

p190 Turgenev - Fathers & Sons / Penguin, R. Edmonds trans.