Twelve in 12 – January

Title: The Original of Laura
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Pages: 512 (including two other novellas)
Genre: General fiction

The Original of Laura is the last and unfinished novel by Vladimir Nabokov. It is written on index cards with crossed out sections and blank spaces. The copy I have read shows the pictures of every card with Nabokov’s handwriting, with underneath the typed out text. Almost as if on purpose the story is about a writer who struggles with writing a story about a girl a knows. He philosophizes about the art of self slaughter. He thinks about erasing himself and thinks he succeeds by doing so one small part of his body at a time. The most interesting index card is the following:

efface
expunge
erase
delete
rub out
wipe out
obliterate

On the index card the word efface is encircled and between rub out and wipe out there is an illegible crossed out word. The cards seem to play a role in the story of the man who tries to kill himself slowly. Maybe a coincidence, but very interesting to think about.

Several stories interact with one an other. What happens to the writer, what happens in the story he writes and what actually happens with the person that the writer in the story writes about. You get glimpses into everything and everything is connected. The writer may be likened to Humbert Humbert from Nabokov’s Lolita. It is difficult to say, but it is hinted at. I would recommend this work to everybody. It is not completed, but that makes it all the more stimulating.

Regards,
Surviving Life