Ardis, its Ardors and Ideologies - Measuring Vladimir Nabokov against Hélène Cixous

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Siegen, course: Literatur-/Kulturtheorien, language: English, abstract: Up to this day, scientific research has examined Vladimir Nabokov's penultimate novelAda or Ardor: A Familiy Chroniclefrom a multitude of theoretical perspectives. But although it displays highly problematic relationships between the different sexes (and also between members of the same sex) and albeit the 'male' narrative point of view demands a great amount of caution from the reader, purely feminist approaches are virtually non-existent. This might partly be attributed to the facts that firstly the splendour ofAda'sstylistic expression tends to distract the reader from its possibly 'contentious contents' and that secondlyAdais generally regarded as a perfect example of a postmodern novel and therefore considered to be immune to any allegation of adherence to fixed categories.