Two days after Vladimir Nabokov’s posthumous novel The Original of Laura lands in the bookstores, Brian Boyd, a world-class expert on the legendary author, presents his lecture, “Nabokov’s Literary Legacy,” on Nov. 19 at Cornell University.
Nabokov taught at Cornell from 1948 to 1959. During those years he wrote Lolita and Pnin and conceived Pale Fire; conducted research on Lepidoptera (an order of insects comprising butterflies and moths); wrote the English and Russian versions of his autobiography, Conclusive Evidence and Drugie Berega; and prepared annotated translations of two pieces of Russian literature: The Song of Igor's Campaign and Eugene Onegin.
With the publishing of The Original of Laura, readers will have a fresh view of Nabokov’s unparalleled brilliance. After Nabokov died in 1977, his heirs were instructed to the burn the incomplete manuscript of The Original of Laura – all written on index cards. The cards were never burned. Now the manuscript – arguably an oncoming, literary tidal wave – will be published and distributed to bookstores on Nov. 17.
Boyd is a noted expert on Nabokov. His major works include Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness; Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years; Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years; Nabokov’s Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery; and Nabokov's Butterflies: Unpublished and Uncollected Writings.
Boyd will give his lecture, "Nabokov's Literary Legacy," on Thursday, November 19th at 4:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University.
