topics
tools
Expatica countries
Index Last Var.(%)
BEL 20 2119.44 0.28
DAX 6339.94 0.38
IBEX 30 6543 0.13
CAC 40 3047.94 0.32
FTSE 100 5351.53 0.03
AEX 292.76 0.23
DJIA 12454.83 -0.60
Nasdaq 2837.53 -0.07
FTSE MIB 13154.8 0.36
TSX Composite 11576.47 0.09
ASX 4081.2 -0.61
Hang seng 18713.41 0.25
Straits Times 2772.75 -0.24
ISEQ 20 500.94 1.55
You are here: Home News News Focus Nabokov's unfinished novel released from Swiss bank

News Focus

archive
Enlarge font Decrease font Text size


18/01/2010Nabokov's unfinished novel released from Swiss bank

Nabokov's unfinished novel released from Swiss bank After thirty years in a Swiss bank vault, Vladimir Nabokov's contentious unfinished novel has seen the light of day.

New York – Vladimir Nabokov wanted it burned on his death, but ‘The Original of Laura’ survived and now, more than 30 years later, the unfinished novel has been published for the first time.

Despite Nabokov's dying wish, the manuscript, which was compiled on index cards, was published on November 17 in New York and London, giving what many hope will be an unexpected glimpse of his genius.

The Russian-born writer's widow Vera had already saved his most famous work, ‘Lolita’, from the flames, and their son Dmitry, 75, followed suit by preserving ‘Laura’.

Yet the family hesitated for 30 years before finally going to literary agent Andrew Wylie who negotiated a deal with Knopf/Random House in the United States and Penguin in Britain.

The manuscript – 138 index cards – had been locked in a bank vault in Montreux, Switzerland, where Nabokov died in 1977.

Vladimir Nabokov's grave
Nabokov's grave in the Clarens cemetery, Montreux, Switzerland

Like ‘Lolita’, ‘The Original of Laura’ is in English. The author was born in Saint Petersburg and emigrated with his family at the time of the 1917 revolution, but began to write in English from 1941.

The contents of the book are known only to a highly restricted circle including the family, but debate has raged for three decades over whether or not the author's wishes should be respected.

"Dmitry made the right decision. Had his father wanted it destroyed, he would have done so himself," Gavriel Shapiro, Russian literature professor at Cornell University and an author of several books on Nabokov, told AFP.

Shapiro noted that Nabokov, who taught at Cornell between 1948 and 1959, had also wanted to burn ‘Lolita’, the book that made him world famous in 1955.

"At one point, Nabokov wanted to destroy Lolita. He was on his way to the incinerator, but Vera stopped him."

Nabokov's wish to have his work destroyed was not the only case of literary self-sabotage. Franz Kafka asked his friend Max Brod to destroy all his unpublished work, including ‘The Trial’.

But instead the book was published posthumously.

There has been huge speculation about the contents of ‘The Original of Laura’ and its quality.

Shapiro, who met Dmitry Nabokov several times, is one of the few who had a prior glimpse.

"I happened to read that book several years ago, with Dmitry's kind permission. I don't remember the details," Shapiro said, "but had Nabokov had the time to complete the novel, it could have been his crowning achievement."

Dmitry Nabokov has also alluded to the potential greatness of the book.

In a BBC television interview in 2008, he said, "My father told me what his most important books were. He alluded to Laura as one of them. One doesn't refer to (a) book one intends to destroy.

"He would have reacted in a sober and less dramatic way if he didn't see death staring him in the face," Dmitry Nabokov told the BBC. "He certainly would not have wanted it destroyed. He would have finished it."

What is not clear is how polished the unfinished book is or whether it could fail to meet the high standards of already published Nabokov novels.
Statue of Vladimir Nabokov

In an interview with the BBC, Vladimir Nabokov himself discussed his unusual writing methods and perhaps gave ammunition to those who say the text is not ready for publication.

"I use these index cards, and I don't write consecutively, from the beginning to the next chapter, till the end," he said. "I just sort of fill in the gaps."

The speculation is that the novel contains even more sex than ‘Lolita’, the story of an elderly, literary pedophile and a manipulative young girl.

Dmitry Nabokov says only that the story concerns a neurologist who has great intellect, but is physically unappealing, and contemplates suicide after becoming oppressed by his much younger wife's infidelity.

"Sex? Not much, that's not the point," he said.

Sex or no sex, an extract of the novel was published in Playboy magazine ahead of the book’s release. Nabokov,  known as something of an 'international playboy', had previously been interviewed by Playboy.

AFP / Expatica

Photo credits: Nabokov statue by Rahul Narain (Flickr.com), Bank vault by cliff1066™ (Flickr.com)


0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment

General rating: Not rated yet

Rate article:    Add my rating



0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment
Discussion Forums

Finding your way in Switzerland

Trekking and Backpacking

Community Noticeboard Switzerland

Let's coach..Saturday.Free.In English.

Finding your way in Switzerland

Chinese Nanny (Ayi) wanted

Finding your way in Switzerland

Need Househelp who prepares Thai food

Student forum Switzerland

@SAP Business Objects Online Training in Netherlands by SAP BOSS

participate in the forums

Inside Expatica
Residence and work permits in Switzerland

Residence and work permits in Switzerland

How to apply for a residency or work permit in Switzerland for you and your family.

How to rent and buy a house in Switzerland

How to rent and buy a house in Switzerland

Information about renting property and obtaining a mortgage in Switzerland.

Switzerland's healthcare system

Switzerland's healthcare system

Information about the Swiss healthcare system, health insurance, pharmacies and emergency numbers.

Banking in Switzerland

Banking in Switzerland

Explaining Swiss currency, banknotes, credit cards and bureaux de change.