Publisher stops printing Philip Roth biography after author charges

The publisher of a biography of the writer Philip Roth, which promises to be a bestseller, announced Tuesday, April 27 that he would no longer print the book, after its author was accused of having sexually harassed and assaulted former students.

In a statement, the WW Norton publishing house said it

Philip Roth: The Biography,

written by Blake Bailey.

Norton also added to stop printing an autobiographical book by the latter,

, published in 2015. The editor added that he would donate to organizations defending victims of sexual assault an amount equivalent to the advance paid to Blake Bailey for this biography, without specifying the amount.

Read also: Philip Roth, the enfant terrible

Blake Bailey, a successful biographer, has seen accusations against him multiply over the past decade, from former students when he taught English at a college in New Orleans in the 1990s. Three women had told The

, a Louisiana city newspaper, that he had stayed in touch with them as adults and had taken advantage of the trust established to undertake sexual advances. One of them even accused him of rape. Other testimonies evoking inappropriate behavior followed on social networks.

Very quickly, his agent had let him go.

For its part, Norton announced Wednesday the suspension of deliveries and promotion of the book, released on April 6 and which had settled at the top of Amazon sales for the "literary critic" category.

In an email to AFP, Blake Bailey, 57, reacted by

against him.

The biography was still available on the Amazon site on Tuesday.

Norton did not say what he would do with the roughly 50,000 copies already printed, according to figures from the

.

Read also: Philip Roth's biographer accused of sexual assault, his book compromised

His biography of Philip Roth, one of the greatest contemporary American authors, who died in May 2018, had been presented as one of the most anticipated books of 2021 and hailed by many critics. The

had notably described the book, of some 900 pages, as a

. Blake Bailey had benefited from Philip Roth's cooperation and virtually unlimited access to his personal archives. Norton said on Tuesday that Blake Bailey was

another publisher.

In March 2020, Hachette and its subsidiary Grand Central Publishing had given up publishing the autobiography of Woody Allen, after a protest movement from employees believing that more precautions should have been taken, in view of the accusations of sexual assault against the director. . Woody Allen then found another publisher.