Published two weeks after his seventieth birthday, Ada, or Ardor is one of Nabokov's greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest. But more: it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalogue. Ada, or Ardor is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat. This is the first American edition to include the extensive and ingeniously sardonic appendix by the author, written under the anagrammatic pseudonym Vivian Darkbloom.
This sharp and tender revision of the myths surrounding Penelope and Odysseus offers a fresh perspective on their story. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is depicted as the faithful wife who, after twenty years apart, manages to fend off numerous suitors while raising her son and maintaining her kingdom. Upon Odysseus's return, he kills her suitors and, notably, twelve of her maids, a brutal act that Homer mentions only briefly. Atwood, haunted by these deaths, begins her narrative with two questions: what led to the maids' hanging, and what was Penelope truly doing during Odysseus's absence? Told from Hades, Penelope narrates her story with wry humor, while her maids serve as a chorus, providing commentary through poems, songs, and even a trial. The narrative explores themes of sexual violence and gender prejudice, interrogating Homer’s original tale and introducing counter-narratives that challenge its assumptions. The maids’ voices add emotional depth, bringing marginalized perspectives to the forefront. Penelope emerges as a complex figure, offering scathing insights that reshape our understanding of her character and our own society. Atwood’s storytelling is both haunting and entertaining, weaving together themes of murder, memory, guilt, and deceit in a way that resonates powerfully today.
Anastasija Kamenskaja, ispettore della polizia criminale di Mosca, sta trascorrendo un periodo di riposo presso il centro di benessere "I Girasoli", in una piccola città della Russia, dove la vita scorre tranquilla e gli abitanti godono di una discreta agiatezza. Ma l'apparente tranquillità del luogo cela una sordida storia di vizio, un giro di filmini hard e di efferate crudeltà. I clienti sono persone profondamente turbate che nascondono la loro perversione dietro una facciata di assoluta normalità. Una serie di misteriosi omicidi avvia un'indagine a cui Anastasija non può restare estranea.
