Dead men don't vote

A sad affair and poor decision, in my book. He'll get a lot of money. He'll camouflage greed with lofty literary mumbo-jumbo. He may even become a literary hero. Brings to mind the end of Mahagonny, "You cannot help a dead man."

clipped from www.npr.org Nabokov Novel to Be Published, Against Dying Wish All Things Considered, April 30, 2008 · Vladimir Nabokov's final work — an unfinished manuscript scholars call The Original of Laura — was meant to be destroyed 30 years ago. When Nabokov died in 1977, he left instructions for his heirs to burn the 138 handwritten index cards that made up the rough draft. But Nabokov's wife, Vera, couldn't bear to destroy her husband's last work, and when she died, the fate of the manuscript fell to her son. Dmitri Nabokov, now 73, is the Russian novelist's only surviving heir. He says he inherited the problem of whether to honor his father's wishes or save the literary master's last written words for posterity. But after 30 years of grappling with the decision, Nabokov has announced his plans to publish the novel.