The Wishes of Dead Literary Figures: To Honor or Not to Honor?

Posthumously, to what extent has Vladimir Nabokov's intellectual property become public domain? This week has seen Europe grapple with two coincidental decisions as to how to handle what's been left behind by a couple of its late and most beloved literary figures.

In typical "bling-bling" fashion, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to move Albert Camus's remains from the more humble Provence town where he died in a car crash in 1960 to the Panthéon, the Parisian monument that is home to the dead bodies of people like Voltaire and Victor Hugo—France's "great men." Sarkozy, who's currently suffering from a 60 percent disapproval rating, would probably like for his own remains to one day rest beside those of the 20th century French demigod.

While Camus's daughter is on board to approve of the decision, her brother Jean claims that the grandiosity of the Panthéon would undermine his father's reputation as strong-willed and humble. And so the planned relocation has stalled, with Sarkozy admitting he needs the agreement and support of both children.

The handling of Vladimir Nabokov's last work, a piece called The Original of Laura that was scribbled on 50 index cards, is a bit less cut-and-dried. The Russian writer had given his family strict instructions to burn his final words after his death, leaving his son Dmitri in a state of agonizing moral indecision. Following years of wavering under constant pressure to make a move, Dmitri Nabokov reached the conclusion this week that Laura should and will be published to indulge the intense curiosity of his father's adoring fans and serve a greater public.

The important difference between the relocation of Camus's body and the publication of The Original of Laura lies in the purpose such steps will serve once they are taken. Whereas it seems that only Sarkozy will sleep better once Camus's grave has been uprooted, a gaping hole in Nabokov's literary legacy will be filled once readers are finally able to dissect Laura.

What's more is that Nabokov was a master of mind games and creating confusion as to his own intentions. Guardian book blogger Kathryn Hughes argued that, "Common sense suggests that, if he had really wanted The Original of Laura not to be seen, he would have taken care to have it destroyed before his death...The fact that Nabokov allowed Laura to live on in any form suggests to me that, at some level, he wanted it read." It follows that by publishing the piece decades after his death, Dmitri Nabokov is merely resolving his father's own indecision or even fulfilling his underlying desire to bring the final words to print.