What is up with Vladimir Nabokov's "Laura" ?

February 19, 2008 12:33 PM

To this day, what do we know about Dimitri Nabokov (Vladimir Nabokov's son) decision to burn his father'as last book : Laura ?

LiterracyFilter : As you may know if you clicked on my question, Dimitri Nabokov (now an elderly man) has declared, last august (august 2007) that he would someday burn his father's last masterpiece, the unfinished book "Laura", a powerful description of the author's very fist love, which he also described as the most brilliant of them all..... in order to respect his father's last will. But other sources informed the medias that his nurse, writing down every single words of the author's last weeks deliriums, may have gotten the final version of what Nabokov wanted to make, of his book. Of course, such a finding, if ever published, may have quite an impact on modern litterature..

Yet I cannot find the "latest" news of the whole thing: does anyone know what is going to happen ? thanx

posted by Jireel to society & culture (9 comments total)

Well, this was about a month ago.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:36 PM on February 19, 2008

Google News is good for this. You can search, and then sort by date. He still hasn't decided whether to burn it or not.
posted by steef at 12:38 PM on February 19, 2008

There's also this from today.
posted by trip and a half at 12:43 PM on February 19, 2008

According to this article (from Feb. 14, two days earlier than Steef's link), Dimitri is even occasionally a bit coy about whether or not he's already burned it (although I think he hasn't).

But the answer is, as of now: no one except Dimitri Nabokov really knows.

As a side note, maybe Dimitri Nabakov and Stephen Joyce should get together and compare notes on how best to hold their ancestors' literary legacies hostage.
posted by scody at 12:48 PM on February 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

More recent news. I think it's called "The Original of Laura." Also, Dmitri occasionally posts to his blog.
posted by mattbucher at 1:45 PM on February 19, 2008

Also, Dmitri occasionally posts to his blog.

Yikes. (Obligatory Snopes link, which he evidently couldn't find on his own, here.)
posted by scody at 2:44 PM on February 19, 2008

Not sure if you've already got this link but this gives you a pretty good idea. Is Dmitri playing with us?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3364183.ece
posted by jessicajulie at 4:20 PM on February 20, 2008

And this just in: Laura is definitely being published.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:10 PM on April 18, 2008

Guardian article and Slate article on the decision to publish.
posted by scody at 2:06 PM on April 26, 2008