CK: You would not make a very good detective! 
 
Dear Miss Marple,
 
As you know, my reading of Ada is different. I don't read it as a detective novel.
 
CK: ...Van who suspects Ada of several murders, Krolik's most likely the first
 
I don't think Van suspects Ada of any crimes. He doesn't even seem to realize that Ada was unfaithful to him during their separation and that she is making a roundabout confession of her infidelities (the parable of her three love affairs). Nor do I think that Ada murdered anyone (not even Philip Rack, one of the "creeping creatures," who you believe was poisoned by Ada). Her most serious crime (committed with the help of an accomplice, Kim Beauharnais, a kitchen boy and photographer at Ardis, who is later blinded by Van) was setting the barn near Ardis Hall on fire.
 
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.