''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses

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Ada's past. His contemplation of that involves his
theory of time as rhythm, so that their love story,
apart from existing in its own right, becomes indeed
an "illustrative metaphor" (563) for his concept of
the texture of time. This becomes clear when one
analyses the story-line and finds that it "is structured
around the periods of time Van and Ada were able
to be together. "85 There are five such periods, the
last one starting in 1922 and ending only with Ada's
and Van's deaths. Certainly, the periods differ from
each other in many respects, and Van himself is aware
of this, both at the actual times and when he is writing
about them. The summer of 1888, for example, his
second stay, at Ardis, is not simply a summer of experiences
and bliss repeating those of four years ago.
It is pervaded by memories of that other summer 86 0
and although Van has on one occasion "the sensation
of fate's rerun" (278), he also feels that "this summer
is so'much sadder than the other" (214). It also ends
on a sad note, with Van leaving Ardis on discovering
that Ada has been unfaithful.
They are reunited in the winter of 1892-1893. Of
this period Van writes that they reached "heights of
happiness he had not known at his brightest hour
before his darkest one in the past" (431). A still
darker hour follows soon afterwards, when they are
again separated, Demon having discovered their illicit
relationship.
"Fat old Veen" (508) and Ada, "a dark-glittering
stranger with the high hair-do in fashion" (510).