Nabokov's death wish

[moose gurl]

Vladimir Nabokov, the famous Russian author, wrote a fragmental story on 138 index cards on his death bed in the hospital, wrote furiously in an attempt to finish is last novel before death. He called it "The Original of Laura." He did not succeed in completing it, however, and in frustration, ordered his wife to destroy the novella. She didn't have the heart, and after her death and 70 years since the original manuscript was written, Dmitri Nabokov, his son, has decided to publish the manuscript. He hasn't decided if he's going to publish it in novel form, in the original index card form, or if he's just going to publish completed fragments. Before I reveal other things I found out about the publication (such as Dmitir's motives, justifications, and release dates) I wanted to ask everyone's opinion: Is this totally unjust to Nabokov's death wish or will this be so important to the history of literature that the public and that scholars have an excellent opportunity and should see this as a blessing?

Please post!

[Rakthor]

Bah, the man was a writer. He had the right to be crazy and moody. I enjoy Nabokov, and I'm glad that they weren't destroyed. Not to sound like a jerk, but I think that his death wish is completely irrelevant in this case.

[capek]

There's nothing wrong with his wife not destroying it. This happens all the time, where an author will write a whole lot of stuff that he would never in a million years want published, and after his death his estate finds a whole bunch of manuscripts and ends up publishing all the stuff the author never wanted published.

[PeterL]

It's a yawn. He didn't finish it, so it probably isn't very good. That it wasn't destroyed is of no importance, and Vladimir would agree with that.

[Inderjit Sanghe]

I personally am pleased with the news-purely from a reader's point of view, of course.

Nabokov once wrote that it was a good thing that Max Brod didn't burn Kafka's writing and I think that same thing applies to Nabokov's quasi-novel.

As for "He didn't finish it, so it probably isn't very good" is, of course, untrue. I am sure there are many spine-tingling moments of beauty in his novel that we otherwise would have been deprived of if the book wasn't published.

On a interesting side-note, Nabokov came close to burning the early parts of Lolita, but was stopped by his wife Vera and although Nabokov went on to finish Lolita. What is it with writers wanting to burn their works?

[PeterL]

As for "He didn't finish it, so it probably isn't very good" is, of course, untrue. I am sure there are many spine-tingling moments of beauty in his novel that we otherwise would have been deprived of if the book wasn't published.



I wrote that it probably wasn't very good, probably is true, because it is a fragment. There many be some nice bits in fragments, but they are incomplete, and even the fine bits may not be complete.

[kelby_lake]

Just because something is incomplete doesn't make it inferior. The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald is very good

[PeterL]

There's only one way to know for sure, and I don't know what part was not written, which would make a difference. If he wrote the beginning, the end, and most of the development, then it might just be missing a few bits of development. If he was writing from beginning to end, and it was to be a 500 page novel, then there probably isn't enough to tell.

[JBI]

The Aeneid wasn't finished... That didn't stop it from being one of the most read books all through the middle ages, and into modern times. That is, perhaps, the foundation of Western literary thought, yet it never got a real ending. It cuts mid-scene. Many works aren't finished, the point is, how finished is this one? Maybe Dmitri is just running low on money, and is going through his manuscript reserves.

[Inderjit Sanghe]

Kafka's most famous long novels-The Trial and The Castle were also unfinished manuscripts somewhat haphazardly put together by Max Brod.

[PeterL]

Many works aren't finished, the point is, how finished is this one? Maybe Dmitri is just running low on money, and is going through his manuscript reserves.

Yes, how much of a novel is it. But I doubt that Dmitri's finances have anything to do with it, unless there was another heir who got the income from the writings.

[moose gurl]

Dmitri has gotten a lot of criticism because of the idea that he's selling the manuscript for monetary gain. But he's said that that's not why he's doing it...he said that if the novel was finished, his father would want it published and would never dream of destroying it, and he imagines his father smiling at him in a sly, multi-meaning way, and kind of snickering at the dilemma he has here, asking him what he's going to do about it. Dmitri has stated that he does not see himself as a "literary arsonist" and that the reason he's publishing it now is because he is old and dying and he believes this novella is important enough to get this out before it's too late.