"Ада" Набокова: место сознания

by Brian Boyd, Брайан Бойд

Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness explores the relationship between the obvious dazzle of Nabokov's style and the unsuspected depths of his thought before focusing on his richest and most surprising novel.

Boyd argues that not only are Nabokov's style and strategies richer than readers have suspected, but they also express an original philosophy of consciousness - a lucid and coherent aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics. Widely acclaimed as the definitive guide to a great twentieth-century literary classic, this study reveals the myriad ways Nabokov found both to extol the amplitude and freedom of consciousness and at the same time to deplore our appalling entrapment in the self and the moment. Nabokov sought always to transcend the limits of the mind, looking for intimations of some freer consciousness beyond the mortal and material world. Boyd shows how these attitudes shape every level of his fiction, from the patterning of phrases to the interplay between reader and author.

In a new preface for Cybereditions, Brian Boyd places Ada in the context of Nabokov's work, subsequent critical discussion, and his own later work. For this edition he has added four new chapters, written in the late 1980s and the 1990s, offering overviews of Ada from a variety of new vantage points. An Index of Passages in Ada allows readers to check for discussions of particular chapters of the novel, while a detailed General Index serves those interested in Ada in particular or in tracing Nabokov's style or thought in general.

With the appearance of this augmented edition of Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness, Brian Boyd has greatly enhanced and updated the essential guide both to the thought of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers and to one of his most complex and rewarding works.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Criticism

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1985

About the author

Brian David Boyd is a University Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland and a preeminent scholar best known for his definitive work on Vladimir Nabokov. After earning his PhD from the University of Toronto, Boyd was invited by Véra Nabokov to catalogue her husband's archives, leading to his award-winning, two-volume biography, The Russian Years and The American Years. His scholarship on Nabokov remains prolific, encompassing numerous edited volumes, verse translations, and the digital project AdaOnline. Beyond his expertise in Russian literature, Boyd is a pioneer in the field of "biopoetics," exploring the intersections of literature, evolution, and cognition. His landmark book, On the Origin of Stories, argues that storytelling is a biological adaptation rooted in play, applying evolutionary criticism to works ranging from Homer to Dr. Seuss. A versatile intellectual, he has also tackled the biography of philosopher Karl Popper and co-curated major exhibitions on the origins of art. In 2020, his contributions to the humanities were recognized with the Rutherford Medal, the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s highest honor.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am proud of my own name because of two other brian's in the world:
brian wilson of the beach boys
and brian boyd, the nabokov scholar.

boyd's book on ada is simply impeccable. every detail is covered in a concrete way, each thread is chased until its very end, and each reference is triple checked. what is wonderful about this book is that it is not critical, and does not provide a simple "reading" of the book for readers to accept and agree with. i found that it was mainly a series of explanations of things that i either missed entirely or was not educated enough to look up. a glorious resource.

i've read "ada" almost twice prior to reading boyd's book, and i still cant wait to read it a third, fourth, and fifth time.

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Boyd, who knows more about Vladimir Nabokov and Nabokov's wonders than anyone (Except perhaps for Nabokov's son Dmitri, who is the approximate age of Updike and Roth and Salinger and who is, if it is to be believed, blogging!Dmitri Nabokov) provides solutions (some hesitant, others confident) to the beautiful mystery of Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle. Now, if I could only make sense of his solutions. . .

To understand nature's design Nabokov would peer into his microscope and count out with patient delight the scales of a butterfly wing. That is what he wants of us: to explore and enjoy his worlds with this kind of precision, word by word. If we are ready to do that, he will reward unstintingly our unstinting curiosity.

That quote alone is worth the price of the book (which was free for me anyway, a gift from my lovely wife, but still). It comes late, though. I felt it could have described Boyd's book as well, the best parts of which were the quotes, long and short, from Ada and elsewhere. And for the patient (or the impatient chapter-skippers) there is the reward of a bitchy coda; Boyd's response to another Nabokovian "scholar."

Here's an extra link for the Ada obsessed: Ada Online

[erich · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliant but i have problems with boyd consequently defending nabokov like his life depends on it

[Vivian Bookmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential for understanding Ada. My only issues are Parts Four and Five being republished materials, and Boyd feeling a bit involuted at times, though I feel that may just be on me not being used to more scholarly prose.
Either way, this made me further appreciate my favorite book of all time and the author who wrote it.

[Ann Klefstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is not the one I was looking for. It was Ada, or Ardor, I was seeking. a dear text for a thousand reasons no one else could understand except one.