Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016421, Sun, 25 May 2008 18:23:24 -0700

Subject
Re: [NABOKOV-LIST] [ Ada,
or Ardor] siblings and their discoveries in the attic
Date
Body
Van wrote: ‘Why do stairs creak so desperately, when two children go upstairs,’ she thought, looking up at the balustrade along which two left hands progressed with strikingly similar flips and glides like siblings taking their first dancing lesson. ‘After all, we were twin sisters; everybody knows that.’ The same slow heave, she in front, he behind, took them over the last two steps, and the staircase was silent again. ‘Old-fashioned qualms,’ said Marina ." 


Why would Van, at this point, make Marina doubt that Van and Ada were siblings? It seems quite preposterous. 
I interpreted the quote slightly differently. Marina is not doubting that Ada and Van are siblings, at least I don't think so. She's worried others will see that they must be brother and sister and coming up with a justification for it. I.E. of course they look so much alike, since she and Aqua were twins. I thought it over and the only way I believe Van might have known about these inner qualms of Marina's might have come from Lucette who later in the book watches over Marina when she dies in agony. I believe Marina confessed to Lucette that she knew of Van and Ada's relations. Has Van therefore retroactively layed in a hint for it early in the book?  That would be quite a questionable layering of understandings for him to build his memoir from.

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