Even in death, Vladimir Nabokov could cause controversy. The "Lolita" author's unfinished final work, "The Original of Laura," was debated sight unseen for years, caught between the literary world's desire to see it published and the author's wish that the manuscript be burned after his death.

Nabokov, who taught literature at Cornell from 1948 to 1959, first mentioned the novel in 1974; he died in 1977. The original manuscript, on 138 index cards (equal to about 30 manuscript pages), sat in a Swiss safe deposit box until Nabokov's son and literary executor, Dmitri, decided in 2008 to publish it. The long-awaited book reproduces the handwritten manuscript, with a transcription for each card. Some critics have panned the book; some scholars have praised it.

Although incomplete, "it does more as story than we have any right to expect," said Nabokov scholar and biographer Brian Boyd, who lectured on "Nabokov's Literary Legacy" on campus following the book's publication in November.

"Most Nabokov scholars agree that the 138 cards constitute up to 30 percent of the novel," said professor of Russian literature Gavriel Shapiro. "Based on the magnificent style of its existent fragments, however, I believe that had Nabokov completed the novel, it could have been his crowning achievement. 'The Original of Laura' is a delightful treat for every literature aficionado, as it allows a rare glimpse into the creative laboratory of one of the most celebrated writers of our time."

Nabokov's wife, Véra, once saved a draft of "Lolita" from a backyard incinerator in Ithaca, Boyd said. Véra Nabokov died in 1991, leaving the "Laura" dilemma to Dmitri.

With its esoteric wordplay, parallels to "Lolita" -- an aging narrator ruminates on a young woman he loved -- and preoccupation with death and self-obliteration, the book shows "a famously challenging writer still challenging his readers," Boyd said. However, "the narrative driveshaft is missing."

Shapiro took part in a roundtable discussion on "The Original of Laura" at a Modern Language Association convention in December.

"The participants … in the limited time allotted to each (four minutes), attempted to delineate various facets of the unfinished novel -- its hypothetical plotline and supposed structure, metaphysics, humor, [and] relation to the fine arts, as well as to the corpus of Nabokov's works, specifically to 'Lolita,'" he said.

Shapiro plans to teach a "Reading Nabokov" course this coming fall; his most recent book is "The Sublime Artist's Studio: Nabokov and Painting."

Boyd was asked by Véra in 1979 to organize the Nabokov archives in Switzerland. "I was allowed to read 'The Original of Laura' just once, under Véra's watchful eye, and could take no notes," he said.

Among Boyd's discoveries in the archive was a box of manuscripts of Nabokov's Cornell lectures on Russian literature. Nabokov once reported putting in 90 hours a week at Cornell, much of it spent on class preparation. His work ethic remained unchanged even after the success of "Lolita" allowed him to retire from teaching in 1959 and move to Switzerland.

"By the 1960s, a stream of new work emerged and continued through 1976," said Boyd, a professor of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Boyd worked with the archives for seven years, and wrote the two-volume biography, "Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years" and "Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years." He conducted some research at Cornell, attending a Nabokov conference in 1983 and interviewing the writer's colleagues, including M.H. Abrams and Ephim Fogel. Boyd is currently editing Nabokov's letters to Véra for publication and plans to compile a book of the Cornell lectures.

"The output of a compulsive worker takes a long time to keep up with," he said.