Nabokov, Ada Ardor A Family Chronicle 1969 Novel
"Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle", by Vladimir Nabokov, published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969.
Published two weeks after his seventieth birthday, "Ada, or Ardor" is one of Nabokov's greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest. But more: it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalog. "Ada, or Ardor" is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat.
"Ada" is the master stylist's richest and most fantastical novel, a family chronicle that loops between 1824 and 1967, and allows him to score satiric points off Russia, America, and 'time's arrow' itself. Writing in "The New York Times Book Review", noted scholar Alfred Appel called it "a great work of art, a necessary book, radiant and rapturous" and said that it "provides further evidence that he [Nabokov] is a peer of Kafka, Proust and Joyce".
According to David Eagleman, Nabokov named the title character in part after his favorite butterfly. An avid (and professional) collector of butterflies, Nabokov especially liked a particular species with yellow wings and a black body. As a synesthete, he associated colors with each letter; A with yellow, and D with black. Thus he saw a reflection of his favorite butterfly (yellow-black-yellow) in the name "Ada". His character, Ada, wanted to be a lepidopterist. "Ada" is also a pun, a homophone, for "Ardor". Marina, Ada's mother, pronounces her name with "long, deep" Russian "A"s, which is how a speaker of non-rhotic English would say the word "Ardor". Ada's name includes a play on Ad, Russian for Hell, which (according to Rita Safariants) serves as a theme throughout the story.
The novel is divided into five parts, each shorter in length than the preceding one (Part four being the only exception). As they progress chronologically, this structure evokes a sense of a person reflecting on his own memories, with an adolescence stretching out epically, and many later years simply flashing by.
The story takes place in the late nineteenth century on what appears to be an alternative history of Earth, which is there called Demonia or Antiterra. Antiterra has the same geography and a largely similar history to that of Earth; however, it is crucially different at various points.
The belief in a "twin" world, Terra, is widespread on Antiterra as a sort of fringe religion or mass hallucination. (The name "Antiterra" may be a back-formation from this; the planet is "really" called "Demonia".) One of Van's early specialties as a psychologist is researching and working with people who believe that they are somehow in contact with Terra. Terra's alleged history, so far as he states it, appears to be that of our world: that is, the characters in the novel dream, or hallucinate, about the real world.
US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ---------- $8.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) --- $27.50
World: Priority (c 2-8 weeks) ---- $37.50
Condition Report: Hard boards, gray lettering on spine, 5.1/2" x 8.1/2"; there is a small stain at the bottom of the half-title and title pages [see photo]; 626 pages, very good condition.
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"Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle", by Vladimir Nabokov, published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969.
Published two weeks after his seventieth birthday, "Ada, or Ardor" is one of Nabokov's greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest. But more: it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalog. "Ada, or Ardor" is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat.
"Ada" is the master stylist's richest and most fantastical novel, a family chronicle that loops between 1824 and 1967, and allows him to score satiric points off Russia, America, and 'time's arrow' itself. Writing in "The New York Times Book Review", noted scholar Alfred Appel called it "a great work of art, a necessary book, radiant and rapturous" and said that it "provides further evidence that he [Nabokov] is a peer of Kafka, Proust and Joyce".
According to David Eagleman, Nabokov named the title character in part after his favorite butterfly. An avid (and professional) collector of butterflies, Nabokov especially liked a particular species with yellow wings and a black body. As a synesthete, he associated colors with each letter; A with yellow, and D with black. Thus he saw a reflection of his favorite butterfly (yellow-black-yellow) in the name "Ada". His character, Ada, wanted to be a lepidopterist. "Ada" is also a pun, a homophone, for "Ardor". Marina, Ada's mother, pronounces her name with "long, deep" Russian "A"s, which is how a speaker of non-rhotic English would say the word "Ardor". Ada's name includes a play on Ad, Russian for Hell, which (according to Rita Safariants) serves as a theme throughout the story.
The novel is divided into five parts, each shorter in length than the preceding one (Part four being the only exception). As they progress chronologically, this structure evokes a sense of a person reflecting on his own memories, with an adolescence stretching out epically, and many later years simply flashing by.
The story takes place in the late nineteenth century on what appears to be an alternative history of Earth, which is there called Demonia or Antiterra. Antiterra has the same geography and a largely similar history to that of Earth; however, it is crucially different at various points.
The belief in a "twin" world, Terra, is widespread on Antiterra as a sort of fringe religion or mass hallucination. (The name "Antiterra" may be a back-formation from this; the planet is "really" called "Demonia".) One of Van's early specialties as a psychologist is researching and working with people who believe that they are somehow in contact with Terra. Terra's alleged history, so far as he states it, appears to be that of our world: that is, the characters in the novel dream, or hallucinate, about the real world.
US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ---------- $8.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) --- $27.50
World: Priority (c 2-8 weeks) ---- $37.50
Condition Report: Hard boards, gray lettering on spine, 5.1/2" x 8.1/2"; there is a small stain at the bottom of the half-title and title pages [see photo]; 626 pages, very good condition.
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Time, Location
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