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Fw: Fw: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
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Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
----- Original Message -----
From: alex
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:09 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
Dear Carolyn,
I wonder very much where in the novel there are hints at Ada's pregnancy. Not that your bold hypothesis about Violet was completely unlikely... But I think it would be difficult to prove it. Until you find some factual evidence in support of your theory, we could as well affirm that Violet is Cordula's or indeed anybody else's grand-daughter.
Let me take this opportunity and say that the theme of illegitimacy that plays a so prominent part in Ada was always present in Russian literature (perhaps because Russian history is full of such cases, some of which are allluded to in Ada). Only in 1878 two long poems were written on that subject: Sluchevski's Larchik ("A Little Casket") and Maikov's Kniazhna ("The Princess").
Alexey
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 10:49 PM
Subject: Fw: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 12:07 PM
Subject: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
Dear Alexey,
Interesting -- Marina certainly isn't acarpous biologically, though her son apparently is.
But Ada -- there's a puzzlement. Is she sterile? There are certainly some hints that she was pregnant at some point, and I have wondered (but haven't gone beyond wondering) whether her relationship with Violet isn't maternal (or more likely grand-motherly). Van of course interprets her affection differently.
Marina claims that she and her brother had a rather conventional relationship, preferring to discuss mundane subjects as compared to the blinding, dazzling anyway, brilliance of Ada & Van's repartee. Perhaps Aqua was the brilliant one in that gemmed relationship. Their brother Ivan was certainly "above average."
On the other hand, there is the evidence of Marina's botanical diary. I might deduce that Marina's dur-nost' might be in the theatrical "dumb blonde" tradition. What color is her hair anyway?
Carolyn
----- Original Message -----
From: alex
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:09 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
Dear Carolyn,
I wonder very much where in the novel there are hints at Ada's pregnancy. Not that your bold hypothesis about Violet was completely unlikely... But I think it would be difficult to prove it. Until you find some factual evidence in support of your theory, we could as well affirm that Violet is Cordula's or indeed anybody else's grand-daughter.
Let me take this opportunity and say that the theme of illegitimacy that plays a so prominent part in Ada was always present in Russian literature (perhaps because Russian history is full of such cases, some of which are allluded to in Ada). Only in 1878 two long poems were written on that subject: Sluchevski's Larchik ("A Little Casket") and Maikov's Kniazhna ("The Princess").
Alexey
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 10:49 PM
Subject: Fw: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 12:07 PM
Subject: Is Ada sterile? Is Marina dumb?
Dear Alexey,
Interesting -- Marina certainly isn't acarpous biologically, though her son apparently is.
But Ada -- there's a puzzlement. Is she sterile? There are certainly some hints that she was pregnant at some point, and I have wondered (but haven't gone beyond wondering) whether her relationship with Violet isn't maternal (or more likely grand-motherly). Van of course interprets her affection differently.
Marina claims that she and her brother had a rather conventional relationship, preferring to discuss mundane subjects as compared to the blinding, dazzling anyway, brilliance of Ada & Van's repartee. Perhaps Aqua was the brilliant one in that gemmed relationship. Their brother Ivan was certainly "above average."
On the other hand, there is the evidence of Marina's botanical diary. I might deduce that Marina's dur-nost' might be in the theatrical "dumb blonde" tradition. What color is her hair anyway?
Carolyn