When Vladimir Nabokov (LOLITA) died in 1977, he gave explicit instructions for his final manuscript, THE ORIGINAL OF LAURA, to be destroyed. However his wife Vera could not bring herself to destroy the book and after her death the dilemma fell to Dimitri, Nabokov's only son: should he honor his father's wishes or give the literary world a glimpse of the legendary writer's last work? Finally, after decades of hand-wringing, Dimitri has allowed the unfinished novel--which consists of 138 handwritten index cards--to be published, and the literary public will be able to read what Dimitri has called, "the most concentrated distillation of [my father's] creativity."

A landmark publication of the literary master's unfinished final work is a fragmented draft as hand-written on 138 index cards that were originally requested for destruction and have been released by his son, in a volume that features removable facsimile reproductions.

A landmark publication of the literary master's unfinished final work is a fragmented draft as hand-written on 138 index cards, originally slated for destruction, that have been released by his son, in a volume that features removable facsimile reproductions.

A landmark publication of the literary master's unfinished final work is a fragmented draft as hand-written on 138 index cards that were originally requested for destruction and have been released by his son, in a volume that features removable facsimile reproductions.

A landmark publication of the literary master's unfinished final work is a fragmented draft as hand-written on 138 index cards, originally slated for destruction, that have been released by his son, in a volume that features removable facsimile reproductions.