Ada or Ardor (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Parody
- Subjects: Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Other worlds, Obsession, Wit or humor, Science fiction
- Locales: Antiterra (fictive), Demonia (fictive)
Ada or Ardor is the most luxuriant, playful, difficult, allusive, ambitious, and overblown of Nabokov's novels. It is a memoir largely written by Van Veen when he is in his nineties that narrates his love for his sister Ada. As “a family chronicle,” it has a hefty nineteenth century range, replete with printed genealogies, thwarted romances, duels, and a happily-ever-after ending in which the venerable Ada is finally reunited with her childhood swain, Van.
The inattentive reader will, however, tread a tortuous path through the text, for Nabokov has laced it with...
[The entire page is 1496 words long]
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