The Monkey's Prison

Nabakov saw a newspaper clipping where this scientist, this guy who studied apes, he was trying to get this monkey to paint for the first time. And his first painting and the only thing he ever painted were his bars that he was in, his prison. So, I like to think that's why H.W. draws immigrants all the time. That's why he wrote the thing. Literally, just a guy who's in his own prison and it's all he's consumed with. The monkey didn't draw himself frolicking through a field or climbing a thing and eating the banana and getting sucked off by another monkey. They're smart and they can feel pain. It's