Vladimir – What Have You Wrought?

No doubt you have been following the story closely, but in case you’ve missed a twist or turn along the way, here’s the latest on the fate of Nabokov’s last, as-yet-unpublished novel, The Original of Laura.

To sum up:

The original Laura manuscript lies in a Swiss bank vault, awaiting it’s fate. On his death bed, Nabokov asked his son, Dimitri, to burn the manuscript, feeling that it was imperfect and should never be seen by the public. Well, it turns out Dimitri is quite the procrastinator, because here he is, at the ripe old age of 73, wrestling with the decision of whether to honor his father’s dying wish, or to release the final work of one of the greatest authors ever in the history of the written word (in my estimation…) for the literary world to appreciate.

It’s a fascinating story, and one that Ron Rosenbaum, author of the excellent book The Shakespeare Wars, is intricately involved in. He has two excellent articles about the amazing story and his involvement in it, over at Slate. Do yourself a favor and read it all….