Philip Roth, in New York on May 23, 2007.ELLINGVAG / ORJAN / © Orjan F. Ellingvag / Dagbladet / Corbis
The great publishing phenomenon of the season in America, the definitive and authoritative biography of Philip Roth, has been cut short by allegations of sexual harassment and rape against its author, Blake Bailey. The publishing house WW Norton has decided this Wednesday to suspend the distribution of
Philip Roth. The Biography
for "the seriousness of the accusations" and canceling the promotion of the book, which was on the way to a second edition of 10,000 copies. The first, of 50,000, had been found this week in the best-seller list of
The New York Times newspaper.
after its publication on April 6.
Bailey's literary agency also ended its representation contract last Sunday.
The book, according to sources from WW Norton, was beginning its international journey, with the sale of the rights to a good number of countries and languages, including Spanish.
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It is not just an editorial setback, nor is it the public disgrace of the biographer, who has categorically denied accusations in the vein of the MeToo movement. In light of the denunciations against Bailey, his way of relating the lurid sexual adventures and the well-known misogyny of Roth —aspects that backbone the book— take on another meaning, interspersed with suspicions of collusion or at least complacency in the face of the novelist's experiences. "He was a person who was hard not to feel tenderness," confesses Bailey in thanks.
The testimonies against the biographer, 57, have multiplied since Sunday, when the complaints of his former students were known at a university in New Orleans in the 1990s. Three women accused him of going overboard with them after gaining their trust, thanks to an environment "of bawdy jokes and permissiveness" designed to pave the way for sex. Another woman has accused him of rape. The latter claims that it reported the incident anonymously to the publisher in 2018, in the midst of the MeToo, and that it received no response.
The sexual assault would have occurred in 2015, at the home of Dwight Garner, a literary critic for
The New York Times
, the newspaper in which the novelist Cynthia Ozick has described the biography as a "total literary work."
The Washington Post
called it "a biographical triumph," while other critics credited Bailey with having concocted a total genre, opera-style, in literature.
Bailey seemed to have reached the peak of her career with the Roth biography.
But the buzz generated by a comprehensive promotion - including a juicy sneak peek - has turned against him.
Such ostracism is unprecedented in the publishing world, which to date has limited itself to withdrawing works due to accusations of plagiarism or due to inaccuracies or falsehoods of the content.
Through 900 pages, Bailey recreates the creative universe of Roth (1933-2018). He did so thanks to the close contact established for almost six years with the writer, as Bailey explained to this newspaper by email last week, before the accusations were known. He spoke of “a whole week in Connecticut, in the summer of 2012, at the rate of six hours a day of interviews; plus at least two or three meetings a year with him until his death, not to mention the many letters and phone calls exchanged ”. Thus he drew up a monumental work that many root in the lineage of the 19th century novel, since it does not only address the portrait of a person, but the wide-angle vision of an era: the great American epic of the 20th century. The forging of the middle class,and the experiences of the infinity of tragic heroes who rose on tiptoe over the post-war desolation.
In an email exchange with EL PAÍS prior to the scandal, the biographer explained how his relationship with the author had been: "I maintained an adequate professional distance with my subject of study, although I was fond of him and vice versa." Bailey did not respond to messages from this newspaper on Thursday about the accusations against him.
Known for portraying the writers John Cheever and Richard Yates, Bailey had almost unlimited access to the Roth archives. It was he who approached the novelist in 2012, after learning that his previous biographer, an old friend of Roth's, was leaving the field free. The writer hired him after subjecting him to an exhaustive examination “on the Judeo-American literary tradition” and pretended to direct the investigation by recruiting friends for interviews with the questions he dictated, while asking Bailey: “I don't want you to rehabilitate me; just make it look interesting. "
In a recent public appearance, Bailey said that he convinced the novelist by assuring him that he would not adopt "an overly prim or critical view of a man with that flowery love life," recalls
The New York Times
.
A phrase that today is sharpened by the few voices they have seen in their narration of Roth's experiences, if not sympathy, then at least empathy.
The promotion of the book abounded in details about the most lustful and misogynistic side of Roth.
His sexual drive was well known since the publication
of Portnoy's Lament
(1969), starring a teenager obsessed with masturbation, who scandalized the Newark rabbis. The sexual dimension of the character ("the erections of 1950 were exactly the same as those of 2012, only that in 1950 they had nowhere to go"), the practical objectification of his conquests or the stormy relationships with his two wives, based on both deception, as well as due veneration to the writer, received wide coverage. With one of his college friends, Roth recalled a forced blow job, “something whores did”. When he moved to Chicago to study, he proposed a Byronian ideal of life: "Books by day, women by night." All citations belong to the biography.
Until the boomerang effect of the promotion and the success of his book hit him, Bailey was preparing a new project.
"I may be working on a biography, I'm really just collecting data at the moment, so I prefer not to specify a topic," he explained last week.
On the method used to avoid characterizing the person in character, he said: “I have no preconceived ideas about my subjects.
I follow the often vast evidence and let the chips fall where they can. "
The chips on the ladder of fame have collapsed, at least temporarily, on Bailey.
Blake Bailey, in Los Angeles on April 11, 2013. Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag