Dmitry Vladimirovich, I would first like to thank you for your thoughtful handling of your parents' legacy. One can hardly imagine a heavier burden, and you have carried it well. I am sure that no matter what decision you make, and it does seem like a zero-sum proposition, you will do it with care and love for both your father and those who love your father's work.

I only have one suggestion: if you do decide to carry out the elimination of Laura, please do not do so because you fear that some might subject the work to bad reading and ideologies of "oneiromancy and mythogeny." I would venture that this will occur regardless of your decision. Some would-be witchdoctor will conjure and publish his idea of what the work ought to have been. Some worse offender will invent reasons for why it had to be destroyed, what it could have contained.

Unfortunately, if you destroy it, there will be no solid grounds for rebuttal. More unfortunately, you will be depriving the good readers of joy because of the bad behavior of others. While those who regard art poorly surely deserve the cold shoulder, don't those who honor it deserve reward? In any case, they don't deserve the punishment, too.

So, if you banish Laura, do so because you were asked to do so by the man who gave you his legacy. By all means, honor that. But for those of us who have worn out their copies of Invitation and Ada for the pure joy of those books and who would love to read more, it would be tragic on the level of Hamlet to have that opportunity destroyed for the misdeeds of a vulgar, if vocal, few.

Vladimir, of course, does not want his son, or anyone else, to burn his index cards. But he is enjoying this display of handwringing and worrying over his legacy. Those of you who write fiction know this is true.