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The publisher of a new, best-selling biography of Philip Roth has temporarily halted the distribution and promotion of the book as the author, Blake Bailey, faces several allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
“These allegations are serious. In light of this, we have decided to suspend the transmission and promotion of ‘Philip Roth: The Biography’ pending any further information that may occur,” according to a statement issued to WW by Norton on Wednesday. The Associated Press was delivered. & Company.
Existing copies remain widely available, including on Amazon.com, where the 800-page book has been 812 on the bestseller list since Wednesday afternoon.
Bailey, who has denied any wrongdoing, has already been dropped by his literary agency, the Story Factory. Bailey was an 8th grade English teacher in the 1990s at Lusher Middle School in New Orleans, and many alumni have recently spoken out, claiming that they had inappropriate and manipulative behavior at the time, saying he later pursued sexual relationships. has.
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Bailey’s book, released in early April, has been one of the most anticipated literary biographies of the most promoted in recent years and appears on the bestseller list of The New York Times and other stores. But this past weekend, on the Twitter feed and website of the blogger of the reluctant habits, Ed Champion, and continuing on social media and in the press, former students shared stories, and some said his behavior continued at they haunt.
Jessie Wightkin-Gelini, who followed Bailey’s class in the late 1990s, told The Associated Press that he was a charismatic teacher with a gift for making students – especially women – feel special and understandable. But she also remembered memories of disturbing behavior – whether she had pushed herself ‘too long’ or touched her on the back of her back. A class assignment can be an essay on the student’s first kiss.
The publisher of a new, best-selling biography of Philip Roth has temporarily halted shipping and promotion of the book, as the author, Blake Bailey (right), faces several allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. (AP / Getty)
“He’s still one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, who’s so sick to me,” says Wightkin-Gelini, who now teaches high school students at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. “I now realize as an adult and as a teacher that the way he spoke to us was part of the care.”
Another former student, Amelia Ward, recalls that Bailey went out of his way to compliment her and pay attention to her and even asked to stay after school if there was no clear reason. Shortly after her time in his class ended, he pursued a personal relationship, took her for coffee and asked her questions about her romantic interests. Ward became uncomfortable and cut off communication.
“It has affected me all my life,” said Ward, who now lives in Philadelphia. “I trusted him and he completely betrayed my trust.”
A Lusher school spokeswoman told the AP that the school, where Kathy Reidlinger was the principal in the ’90s, was not aware of any concerns that had arisen about him. Some alumni, including Sarah Stickney Murphy, dispute this.
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“I can not believe Kathy Reidlinger actually said that no one ever complained about Blake Bailey’s behavior when he taught at @LusherMiddle. What an astonishing lie,” she tweeted Tuesday.
Bailey, 57, is the author of award-winning biographies of authors John Cheever and Richard Yates, and has been working on the Roth book since 2012. Bailey had unlimited access to Roth’s papers and spent a lot of time with the author, who passed away in 2018. He has conducted numerous promotional interviews for the book, including with The Associated Press, and recently spoke with author Mary Karr, a friend of Roth, who called Bailey ‘our most notable literary biographer’.
On Wednesday, she tweeted: ‘After just having an opportunity with Blake Bailey to discuss the bio of my old friend Roth, I wake up when Bailey is credibly accused by three of his former eighth-grade students of taking care of them for sex. when they turned eighteen. I support any brave young woman who speaks. ‘
The allegations against Bailey come because his book repeated questions about how Roth portrayed women in his fiction, from “Portnoy’s Complaint” to “My Life As a Man” and treated it in his private life. Bailey documented Roth’s two unhappy marriages in detail, including with actor Claire Bloom; his chronic adultery and progress he made on a friend of Bloom’s daughter. Roth also occasionally offered a college course and would like to look back on a time when “you were not dragged into chains of feminist prison when you struck up a tender friendship with the smartest, most beautiful girl in your class.”
Most critics praised Bailey for a thorough and fair account, although some blamed him for being too sympathetic.
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“In Bailey, Roth found a biographer who was extremely focused on his grievances and rarely disputed his moral accounting. Yet the result is not a final victory in the argument, as Roth might have hoped,” writes Laura Marsh of The New Republic.