Chapters in this book

1. Front Matter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Introduction: Nabokov’s “Swan Song” 1
5. A Picture in Fragments
6. Chronology of the Novel in Fragments: Composition, Publication, Reception 17
7. Publishing Laura 27
8. Reading Is Fun: Approaches to Analysis
9. Vanishing Fragments 55
10. Terminating the Phrase 63
11. Worlds Apart: Lolita, Laura, and the Shadows of Difference 85
12. Nabokov’s Last Smile 103
13. The Original of Laura and Nietzsche: A Zarathustran Tool? 114
14. Looking for Flora: Deviance and Disclosure in Nabokov’s The Original of Laura 129
15. Reading the Posthumous Postmodern: Laura’s Productive Fragments 142
16. Critical Reception
17. The Problem with Nabokov 157
18. Trump Cards 169
19. In the Cards, a Last Hand 174
20. A Generous Gift to Readers 178
21. The Nabokov Mess 181
22. Vladimir Nabokov, Reduced to Notes 184
23. An Earnest Proposal to Dmitri Nabokov 187
24. Genius Erased 194
25. A Curiosity for Nabokov’s Fans 198
26. Deaths of the Authors 201
27. The Critics’ Laura 205
28. A Toolbox
29. Translating Laura 219
30. Afterword
31. The Last Word – Or Not? On Some Cards Named Laura 243
32. Notes 259
33. Contributors 291
34. Index 297