August 1st, 2009 / 11:42 pm
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The Original of Laura

 

fd8-Index-Cards-med

Knopf is publishing the book in an intriguing form: Nabokov’s handwritten index cards are reproduced with a transcription below of each card’s contents, generally less than a paragraph. The scanned index cards (perforated so they can be removed from the book) are what make this book an amazing document; they reveal Nabokov’s neat handwriting (a mix of cursive and print) and his own edits to the text: some lines are blacked out with scribbles, others simply crossed out. Words are inserted, typesetting notes (“no quotes”) and copyedit symbols pepper the writing, and the reverse of many cards bears a wobbly X. Depending on the reader’s eye, the final card in the book is either haunting or the great writer’s final sly wink: it’s a list of synonyms for “efface”—expunge, erase, delete, rub out, wipe out and, finally, obliterate. (Nov.)

Via Conversational Reading

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12 Comments

  1. Nick

      Can’t wait to read it. Whose script outline is that?

  2. Nick

      Can’t wait to read it. Whose script outline is that?

  3. Ryan Call
  4. Ryan Call
  5. Merzmensch

      This is perhaps the most appropriate way of publishing “The Original of Laura”. Actually, in this way must be published “Ulysses” and Buchner’s “Woyzeck”. Otherwise we are under dictatorship of publishers, who are dictating us the way of reading.

  6. Merzmensch

      This is perhaps the most appropriate way of publishing “The Original of Laura”. Actually, in this way must be published “Ulysses” and Buchner’s “Woyzeck”. Otherwise we are under dictatorship of publishers, who are dictating us the way of reading.

  7. jh

      I have the original of laura right here. Your wife is a robot.

  8. jh

      I have the original of laura right here. Your wife is a robot.

  9. Ryan Call

      ok, im a little creeped out now.

  10. Ryan Call

      ok, im a little creeped out now.

  11. Kevin O'Neill

      The Editors of the Nabokov Online Journal announce a special block of articles devoted to V. Nabokov’s “The Original of Laura” (scheduled to appear in the fall of 2009). The cluster will be published in the fourth volume of the journal.

      The list of possible directions to explore can be found below, although these general outlines will be adapted after the actual publication of the fragment of Nabokov’s novel in November 2009. At this point the Editors would appreciate only the declaration of your intention to participate in this discussion.

      1) An intrinsic analysis of the novel: Its plot, structure, imagery, and motifs (to the extent possible when treating a fragment of a work of art in progress);
      2) The Original of Laura and the Nabokov canon: The place of the novel in relation to Nabokov’s other writings;
      3) Translations of The Original of Laura (we encourage contributions on all available languages in which the work will appear on the market);
      4) The poetics of incompleteness (The Original of Laura and other similarly unfinished works);
      5) Nabokov as a literary phenomenon: How will his art be viewed in light of the new publication?
      6) The publication history of The Original of Laura.
      7) Public responses to The Original of Laura.

  12. Kevin O'Neill

      The Editors of the Nabokov Online Journal announce a special block of articles devoted to V. Nabokov’s “The Original of Laura” (scheduled to appear in the fall of 2009). The cluster will be published in the fourth volume of the journal.

      The list of possible directions to explore can be found below, although these general outlines will be adapted after the actual publication of the fragment of Nabokov’s novel in November 2009. At this point the Editors would appreciate only the declaration of your intention to participate in this discussion.

      1) An intrinsic analysis of the novel: Its plot, structure, imagery, and motifs (to the extent possible when treating a fragment of a work of art in progress);
      2) The Original of Laura and the Nabokov canon: The place of the novel in relation to Nabokov’s other writings;
      3) Translations of The Original of Laura (we encourage contributions on all available languages in which the work will appear on the market);
      4) The poetics of incompleteness (The Original of Laura and other similarly unfinished works);
      5) Nabokov as a literary phenomenon: How will his art be viewed in light of the new publication?
      6) The publication history of The Original of Laura.
      7) Public responses to The Original of Laura.