This Friday I will write an essay on Ada, or Ardor: a Family Chronicle, by Vladimir Nabokov, for my essay series The NSFW Files (on the website for the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography). Ada, written in 1969, was one of the last three novels that Nabokov wrote and it focuses on an incestuous love affair between two cousins set in an alternate history. It is a heavily allusive and playful postmodernist work. It is also remarkably dense, difficult, and depraved.

I am looking for panelists to participate in a literary roundtable focusing on various aspects of Ada. Everything from family relations to literary history to the postmodernist project can be discussed and explored. For panelists, the prerequisites are comically low. Have you read the book? If you’ve answered yes to that question, then you can be on the panel. Anyone can join in. Nabokov experts, literary theorists, everyone from professional to enthusiast to fan and beyond. The more varied the voices the more rewarding the discussion.

If you are interested in participating, send me an email at thedriftlessareareview @ hotmail . com. I’m looking for three more panelists – I already have one on board, including myself – and we will discuss the book via email. Then I will post-edit the email conversations and put them up on the blog.

Questions, comments, suggestions, let me know. Just send me an email.