CK: You and I (Jansy & Carolyn) have discussed this
before. Although a trilby is a kind of hat (named for the hat worn by the
heroine in du Maurier's Trilby), in the context of other references
to hypnosis and multiple-personality disorders in Pale Fire I took
it to be a reference to du Maurier's novel.
JM: I
saw the movie "Svengali" a long time ago and I didn't connect the trilby to
Du Maurier's novel ( I'd only read "Peter Ibbetson") until yesterday.
It
would be fascinating to discover (or to be reminded of) that Nabokov
has been a keen reader of Du Maurier, with themes related to mind-control,
altered states of mind, perversion, vampirism and much more.
Inspite
of Humbert Humbert's descriptions about "nymphet magic" it is hard to imagine
Dolores Haze in the role of a "succubus". As far as "Arthur" (
the Enchanter) and HH go, in the roles of an "incubus", both appear to
be, at most, extremely clumsy, undreamlike human predators.
I
understand you consider it possible that Nabokov extracted
something from Du Maurier and that it was consistent enough (not
only a playful reference) to include in a project related
to structuring Pale Fire as a "split-personality"
plot.