Final Nabokov book...finally

According to the Times (via Amber), Vladimir Nabokov's son has decided to publish his father's final unfinished manuscript. Written on 138 index cards (which was apparently the way that Nabokov wrote all of his books), The Original of Laura will be published on November 3rd. When Nabokov died in 1977, he asked that the cards be burned, but his son locked them in a bank vault in Switzerland instead.

Defying a father's wishes, Swiss bank vaults, burning of manuscripts...let's hope that The Original of Laura is as interesting as the story behind it!

Lolita, Light of My Life

On the cover of my copy of Lolita, Vanity Fair calls it “The only convincing love story of our century.” I’d like to think that I am not cynical enough to agree with that completely, but I would say that it is one of my favorite books of our century.

There is a lot going on in Lolita—the psychology of a true narcissist, the culture clash of a hyper-civilized European man living in America, the fear and paranoia of “when will he get caught?!”—which is good because sometimes the obsession that Humbert Humbert has for 12-year-old Dolores Haze is so intense and disgusting that you are forced to distance yourself from the overarching love story. How Nabokov is able to turn it into such a beautifully written classic is amazing.

If we were to group books, Unbearable Lightness of Being-style, into day books and night books, Lolita would certainly be a night book. Dark, engrossing, ecstatic. And highly recommended.