Subject
Re: Query: Ada's virtue (fwd)
Date
Body
At 03:35 PM 8/13/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Does it bother anyone else that Ada -- so care-free with her favors --
>chooses (after her first Swiss reunion with Van) to return to
>Arizona with her ailing Andrey until his death 17 years later? This
>strikes me as inconsistent with her character as displayed everywhere else
>in the novel.
>
As a matter of fact, I do recall that I was somewhat puzzled by Ada's
actions in the later part of the novel. For the moment, I have no
explanation to offer since it has been many years ago since I reread ADA. I
have just finished reading Herman Melville's PIERRE; and I strongly
recommend it to anyone who has read ADA. It is very instructive, I find, to
read Melville's novel with Nabokov in mind.
After all, Humbert Humbert does stop at Pierre during his excursion.
Abdellah Bouazza.
Miss Hassnae Bouazza
Dr. Dreeslaan 206
4241 CM ARKEL
THE NETHERLANDS
tel: 00-31-183-56-1655
e-mail: H.Bouazza@stud.let.ruu.nl
-------------------------------
EDITOR's RESPONSE.
A couple of people, noteably Suellen Stringer-Hye, have
noted the Ada/Pierre correspondences, especially re sibling incest. VN did
admire Melville -- as do I, but I find it very hard to take PIERRE
seriously.
>Does it bother anyone else that Ada -- so care-free with her favors --
>chooses (after her first Swiss reunion with Van) to return to
>Arizona with her ailing Andrey until his death 17 years later? This
>strikes me as inconsistent with her character as displayed everywhere else
>in the novel.
>
As a matter of fact, I do recall that I was somewhat puzzled by Ada's
actions in the later part of the novel. For the moment, I have no
explanation to offer since it has been many years ago since I reread ADA. I
have just finished reading Herman Melville's PIERRE; and I strongly
recommend it to anyone who has read ADA. It is very instructive, I find, to
read Melville's novel with Nabokov in mind.
After all, Humbert Humbert does stop at Pierre during his excursion.
Abdellah Bouazza.
Miss Hassnae Bouazza
Dr. Dreeslaan 206
4241 CM ARKEL
THE NETHERLANDS
tel: 00-31-183-56-1655
e-mail: H.Bouazza@stud.let.ruu.nl
-------------------------------
EDITOR's RESPONSE.
A couple of people, noteably Suellen Stringer-Hye, have
noted the Ada/Pierre correspondences, especially re sibling incest. VN did
admire Melville -- as do I, but I find it very hard to take PIERRE
seriously.