Last work of 'Lolita' author may soon be destroyed

London, Jan 20 (UNI) The last unpublished work of the author of the most controversial novel of modern literature-- Lolita-- may not see the light of the day, in fulfilment of the writer's last wishes.

Vladimir Nabokov requested in his will that his unfinished novel, The Original of Laura, should be destroyed on his death, saying he abhorred the idea of his readers seeing a work he had completed ''in my mind'' but not on paper.

But even after more than 30 years of his death, nobody has dared to incinerate the manuscript, a collection of 50 index cards that is languishing in a Swiss bank vault.

Dimitri Nabokov, the author's sole surviving heir and the only living person to have seen the entire manuscript, had described it as the most ''brilliant, original and potentially radical'' script he (Vladimir Nabokov) ever wrote.

The former opera singer has indicated that he is prepared to put a match to the manuscript.

In an email and telephone exchange with US literary critic Ron Rosenbaum, Nabokov has stressed that he wants to spare it the harsh treatment that his father's novel, Lolita, received at the hands of critics, Guardian reported.

In an article in a US online magazine, Rosenbaum says ''The desire to spare Laura similar molestation by the Lolitologists inclines him to obey his father's wishes and consign the manuscript to oblivion.'' UNI XC YA AS1232