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Re: Fwd: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
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Donald B. Johnson wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> I've been thinking about the possible origins of the name "Ada", and I
> gathered elements from Nabokovian critics, from the List, and from my own
> reflections.
> I would like to submit them to you. I would be very grateful if you could
> give me your opinion on them and suggest further references / possible
> origins.
>
> Linguistic echoes in the name itself:
>
> A-da (yes)
> Ada (hell, accusative case?? In Russian)
> Ada = to wear jewels in Hebrew (adi = jewel) (I ignore if Nabokov was
> familiar with Hebrew)
>
>
> Sound parallels:
>
> Ada / Ardor
> Ada / Adora (cf source-text to Ada) / Adorée
> Ada / Adam / Eden
>
> It is to be noted that "Ada" is a palindrome (a structure that is based on
> symmetry and can thus be related to the numerous mirror effects and doubles
> in the novel). As such the name has an unusual stability in Nabokov's use of
> language: indeed "Ada" cannot be turned into an anagram.
>
>
> Intertextual references:
>
> Ada, character from Dickens's Bleak House.
> Ada, girl friend mentioned by Alice: "I'm sure I'm not Ada," she said, "for
> her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at
> all." (L. Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Norton, 1992, 15)
>
>
> Painting reference:
>
> Serov's painting, "portrait of Adelaida Simonovich"
>
> Thank you for your help!
>
> Marie Bouchet.
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
Here are a few more I have jotted down, although I'm sure others havce
found these and more:
> And in addition to the connections for Ada such
> as the "a, da" etc noted by Boyd --I believe that
> Dar was originally to be titled Da; and Byron's
> daughter's name was usually written "A-da" at first
> by her mother, and that Cain's wife is named Adah i
> n Byron's work by that title. We can note that
> name of a genus of orchids of the Oricilium family,
> as mentioned by Mason (MOTIF orchids); And Robert
> M. Polhemus on p 275 of his Erotic Faith cites a
> Joycian list (FW 147) where "he imagines the
> letters as feminized objects of desire.... 'There's
> Ada, Bett, Celia,Delta....' " (to save time for
> the curious, this appears to be the only appearance
> of"Ada" in the Wake.) And Ada and Van's Russian
> initials (A and B) are the first two l
> letters of the Roman alphabet. The word 'ardeur'
> (used as a subtitle in the French Translation)
> can most closely be translated by English 'lust,
> while the English word is for most of us a slightly
> bookish synonym for 'energy, enthusiasm'. Her full
> name might be hyphenated, Ada - laid; and
> coincidentally there is an Adelaide Island
> in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
John
----- End forwarded message -----
> Dear List,
>
> I've been thinking about the possible origins of the name "Ada", and I
> gathered elements from Nabokovian critics, from the List, and from my own
> reflections.
> I would like to submit them to you. I would be very grateful if you could
> give me your opinion on them and suggest further references / possible
> origins.
>
> Linguistic echoes in the name itself:
>
> A-da (yes)
> Ada (hell, accusative case?? In Russian)
> Ada = to wear jewels in Hebrew (adi = jewel) (I ignore if Nabokov was
> familiar with Hebrew)
>
>
> Sound parallels:
>
> Ada / Ardor
> Ada / Adora (cf source-text to Ada) / Adorée
> Ada / Adam / Eden
>
> It is to be noted that "Ada" is a palindrome (a structure that is based on
> symmetry and can thus be related to the numerous mirror effects and doubles
> in the novel). As such the name has an unusual stability in Nabokov's use of
> language: indeed "Ada" cannot be turned into an anagram.
>
>
> Intertextual references:
>
> Ada, character from Dickens's Bleak House.
> Ada, girl friend mentioned by Alice: "I'm sure I'm not Ada," she said, "for
> her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at
> all." (L. Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Norton, 1992, 15)
>
>
> Painting reference:
>
> Serov's painting, "portrait of Adelaida Simonovich"
>
> Thank you for your help!
>
> Marie Bouchet.
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
Here are a few more I have jotted down, although I'm sure others havce
found these and more:
> And in addition to the connections for Ada such
> as the "a, da" etc noted by Boyd --I believe that
> Dar was originally to be titled Da; and Byron's
> daughter's name was usually written "A-da" at first
> by her mother, and that Cain's wife is named Adah i
> n Byron's work by that title. We can note that
> name of a genus of orchids of the Oricilium family,
> as mentioned by Mason (MOTIF orchids); And Robert
> M. Polhemus on p 275 of his Erotic Faith cites a
> Joycian list (FW 147) where "he imagines the
> letters as feminized objects of desire.... 'There's
> Ada, Bett, Celia,Delta....' " (to save time for
> the curious, this appears to be the only appearance
> of"Ada" in the Wake.) And Ada and Van's Russian
> initials (A and B) are the first two l
> letters of the Roman alphabet. The word 'ardeur'
> (used as a subtitle in the French Translation)
> can most closely be translated by English 'lust,
> while the English word is for most of us a slightly
> bookish synonym for 'energy, enthusiasm'. Her full
> name might be hyphenated, Ada - laid; and
> coincidentally there is an Adelaide Island
> in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
John
----- End forwarded message -----