Night Waves - The Original of Laura/Vatican Conference/Hoerengracht/The Habit of Art

Presented by Anne McElvoy. Novelist Lawrence Norfolk reviews Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished novella The Original of Laura, which has just been published. The book, which was handwritten onto 138 index cards by the author, has been the source of a dilemma for the author's son, Dmitri. As sole exector of Vladimir's will, he has for 30 years wrestled with the dilemma of whether to publish this final work by a major literary figure or burn it as the author requested. A special conference is to be held at the Vatican hoping to re-energise a dialogue between the Catholic church and leading artists who have been invited to attend, from film-makers to painters and musicians. Anne is joined by composer James MacMillan and Damian Thompson, editor of the Catholic Herald, to talk about the issues the conference raises. Critic Lynda Nead joins Anne to review a new installation at the National Gallery in London which is a life-size recreation of the streets, allies and lighted rooms of prostitutes in Amsterdam, which which visitors are invited to walk around and peer into. The work, called Hoerengracht, was created by American artists Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienhoz. And Anne is joined by critic Suzannah Clapp for a first night review of Alan Bennett's new play The Habit of Art, which opens at the National Theatre in London. In it, Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, WH Auden. The play explores the unsettling desires of two difficult men.