Ada, or Ardor

"I loathe science fiction," Vladimir Nabokov declared to a BBC interviewer in 1968, "with its gals and goons, suspense and suspensories."

Strange to say, Nabokov was putting the finishing touches on an ambitious science fiction novel even as he made this grand pronouncement. Ada, or Ardor was published eight months later, two weeks after Nabokov’s 70th b…