In October 1976, asked to name three books he had been reading, Nabakov listed: a translation of Dante’s Inferno, an illustrated guide to North American butterflies and a book of his own, “The not-quite-finished manuscript of a novel”
Recovering from illness he had, in his febrile state been reading his not-quite-finished book aloud to an audience of:
“peacocks, pigeons, my long dead parents, two cypresses, several young nurses crouching around, and a family doctor so old as to be almost invisible”.
Last Tuesday the not-quite-finished novel was published.
Out of a Swiss vault. Thirty years after his deathly plea to his wife Vera to destroy it.The Original of Laura has been assembled from 138 index cards. Penguin has printed the book including the index cards which are covered in , scribbles, food stains, tea cup marks and Nabakovs greasy fingerprints.
