Michael Antman’s review of TOoL seems the most percipient and evenly balanced of those I’ve seen so far. One can quibble at his initial “hard-to-rate” verdict, subsequently vitiated by numerical points awarded and averaged in the finest EuroVision Song Contest tradition! (Zembla: Sept Points! AntiTerra: Nul points! Thule, the ultimate Winner! Offstage cries of “Fie, fie! Fixe, fixe!”)

I agree with Antman and others in declaring TOoL, the physical product as delivered by Penguin, a wondrous objet d’art to grace any bookshelf, matching the magic and mystery of TOoL the text, the almost-lost text, the master’s unfinished farewell. In my case, the format came as a complete surprise. I opened the unusually heavy (and long awaited, long pre-ordered) amazonian package and emitted a most unusual BOB (a sort of Cyrillic WOW?). Were others bouleversed by the cover design (fading titles), typography, and, least expected, the embedded replica handwritten, perforated note cards? How could I have missed, with all the furious pre-speculation, any hint of this publicational coup de foudre?

Risking first-name over-familiarity (see DN’s introductory warning), I thank Dmitri, Ron, Chip, Zuzana, et Alles. And I curse those who impute evil motives in TOoL’s salvation. In some sad parallel universe, the precious cards are reduced to ashes. In yet another, unbelievably, unworldly Soviet utopia, a censored TOoL might come from a not-for-profit People’s Press, with no nasty commercial marketing.

Still ahead for many of us: a careful, excited re-reading. (Entering my ninth decade with fading omoplates and leftmost toes amputated, I have a personal interest in Dr Wild’s fate!) I see (by definition!) no adverse impact on VN’s imperishable reputation. We have been allowed a privileged glimpse of tentative work-in-progress, and must not abuse that privilege. Not without artistic precedent, of course.  We have many scratched and re-scribbled m/s’s from, e.g., Keats and Beethoven.

PS on the following exchange:

Mark Bennett: The matter seems straightforward to me:  whoever buys the original note cards should burn them.
JM: A symbolic, artsy and self-defeating "auto de fé"?
 
I can only take Mark’s comment as a sarcastic rebuke to those who urged DN to incinerate, but I’m not clear whether Jansy takes Mark literally?

Some of the pro-burners seem to me to be under-appreciative of the VN/DN relationship, quite rare (unique?) in literature: beyond that of loving father/son, they shared with Véra a close, life-long literary collaboration. Who dares question Dmitri’s decision?

Stan Kelly-Bootle

On 20/11/2009 14:08, "Christopher Guerin" <cguerin@AOL.COM> wrote:

A review of Laura at Popmatters.com.

<http://www.popmatters.com/>

The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov
[20 November 2009]
By Michael Antman <http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/365>
Genius Erased
Here, at last, is Laura. The most eagerly awaited literary novel of this fledgling century is the posthumous and fragmentary work of the greatest writer of the second half of the last century,

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