Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle: Analysis of Major Characters
"Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle" is a complex narrative that explores intricate familial relationships and enduring love through its major characters. At the center is Ivan (Van) Veen, a member of an aristocratic family who navigates a tumultuous life filled with romantic entanglements, particularly a lifelong love for his cousin Ada, who is later revealed to be his sister. Ada, a passionate and sensual figure, experiences numerous affairs and struggles with her identity throughout her life, including a bisexual relationship with her half-sister Lucette, who is also deeply infatuated with Van.
The story is further complicated by their father, Dementiy (Demon) Veen, whose wealth and womanizing ways create a backdrop of emotional turbulence. The narrative delves into themes of obsession, mental illness, and the repercussions of forbidden love, particularly shown through Lucette's tragic fate. Supporting characters like the troubled Marina Durmanov and the stoic Daniel Veen add layers to the family dynamics, while Cordula de Prey serves as a nurturing figure who aids in the characters' journeys.
Overall, the book intricately weaves together themes of passion, betrayal, and the complexities of kinship, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of love and the impact of familial ties over time.
Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
First published: 1969
Genre: Novel
Locale: Antiterra or Demonia
Plot: Parody
Time: 1850–1965
Ivan (Van) Veen (ih-VAHN), the fastidious, rakish scion of an aristocratic family. He matures from schoolboy to scholar of psychiatry to retired traveler. Although he has many sexual partners, his life is dominated by a love affair, lasting more than eighty years, with Ada, who is said to be his cousin but actually is his sister. Fourteen-year-old Van, who earns local fame for his unusual skill at walking on his hands, meets twelve-year-old Ada in the idyllic setting of her putative father's country estate, Ardis. There they fall in love, but Van also attracts the lifelong, obsessive love of his and Ada's half sister, Lucette. A second summer at Ardis, four years later, re-affirms Van's love for Ada, but this time the idyll is shattered by Van's discovery of Ada's unfaithfulness. Van is wounded in a duel and recovers at the nurturing hands of a family friend, Cordula de Prey, in her Manhattan apartment. Eventually Van and Ada are reunited in the apartment (now Van's), but a winter of love is interrupted by the abrupt entrance of their father, Demon, who demands that the lovers part. Van spends his adult life in the study and practice of psychiatry, with a special interest in time, space, and insanity. During a transatlantic ocean voyage, Van is surprised to learn that Lucette has contrived to become his fellow passenger. When Van, out of conscientious scruples, rebuffs her advances, she jumps overboard to her death. Van and Ada meet again, in their thirties, in Switzerland, and resume their affair, although Ada is now married. The illness of Ada's husband forces another separation, but the lovers reunite again in their fifties and spend a happy and active old age together, traveling around the world from one fabulous home to another.
Adelaida (Ada) Veen (ah-deh-lah-EE-dah), a pale, dark-haired beauty who is a precocious twelve-year-old with interests in botany and entomology when she first meets and falls in love with Van. As she matures, her sensuality blossoms, and she has many male lovers, as well as, eventually, a bisexual intimacy with her troubled half sister, Lucette. Van is most angered by her brief romances with Lucette's music teacher, Philip Rack, and with Cordula de Prey's cousin, Percy. After both men die, Ada spends her young adult years in a tepid career as a film actress. In between her periodic romantic reunions with Van, Ada is married and spends much of her middle age on a ranch in Arizona with her husband. Eventually, she returns to Van and spends her old age traveling with him, photographing butterflies, and helping to edit the story of their life together.
Dementiy (Demon) Veen (deh-MEHN-tee), a fabulously wealthy, black-haired womanizer who sires both Van and Ada with his mistress, Marina Durmanov, an actress. He is married to Marina's mentally ill sister, Aqua. He is the father of record of Van only, with whom he enjoys a warm relationship. The bond is damaged when Demon inadvertently discovers that his two children are lovers. As an older man, Demon enjoys female lovers of steadily diminishing age (ending with a difficult nymphet of ten) and finally dies in a plane crash.
Marina Durmanov Veen (mah-REE-nah DUR-mah-nov), a faded, red-haired stage and film actress of mediocre gifts. She marries Daniel Veen but carries on a stormy love affair with his cousin Demon. As a result, Marina is the mother of Demon's daughter Ada, Dan's daughter Lucette, and Demon's son Van, though all involved pretend that Van was born instead to Marina's sister Aqua. Marina runs Dan's country estate, Ardis, and occasionally plays the role of doting mother while combining her acting career with a series of love affairs. Marina, who is looked upon with contempt by both Van and Ada, resolutely ignores the evidence that the siblings are lovers until she reaches her deathbed from cancer.
Aqua Durmanov Veen, Marina's twin sister, who is married to Demon Veen and claims to be Van's mother, though Van actually is Marina's child by Demon. Aqua's life is plagued by an escalating series of episodes of mental illness, culminating with her suicide before the age of forty.
Daniel Veen, a dull, stodgy art dealer of independent means. He is married to Marina Durmanov, and he is the father of Lucette and the putative father of Ada. He visits Ardis on weekends and has very formal, limited relationships with his wife and family.
Lucinda (Lucette) Veen, a beautiful, troubled redhead, a half sister to Van and Ada. Teased as a youngster by close proximity to Van and Ada's romance, she comes to love both half siblings obsessively, enjoying sexual intimacy with Ada but finding herself frustrated in her overtures to Van. On one occasion, all three have a brief sexual encounter in Van's bed. When Lucette's frantic final attempt to engage Van on board an ocean liner fails, she jumps overboard to her death.
Ida Larivière, (lah-rih-vih-EHR), young Ada and Lucette's governess. She continues in this position even after achieving unexpected literary success with her plays and short stories. She is somewhat in awe of Ada, and her characteristic failure to observe keeps her from perceiving the romantic nature of Ada and Van's relationship.
Percy de Prey, one of Ada's lovers, a heavyset, hot-tempered rival of Van, and a cousin of Cordula de Prey. He is killed in military service.
Cordula de Prey, a young school friend of Ada. She remains close to Van and Ada all their lives. She nurses Van back to health after he is wounded in a duel, gives him the Manhattan apartment where he and Ada spend a memorable winter, and arranges for Lucette to procure last-minute reservations on the ocean liner from which she plunges to her death.
Philip Rack, Lucette's music teacher and another of young Ada's lovers. A thin, self-effacing man, he eventually is poisoned by his wife and dies in the same hospital where Van is brought after being wounded in a duel.
Andrey Vinelander, a simple Russian with a ranch in Arizona. He marries Ada after Demon surprises and separates Ada and Van. Ada remains loyal, if not faithful, to Andrey during a lengthy illness that eventually leads to his death, allowingAdaatlasttoreturntoVan.
Dorothy Vinelander, Andrey's sister, a prissy, annoying pseudointellectual who is despised by both Van and Ada. In spite of her intrusiveness and inquisitiveness during a family trip to Switzerland, she fails to grasp the true nature of Van and Ada's relationship.