Blake Bailey’s highly anticipated biography of Philip Roth has been cancelled by WW Norton and Company amid sexual assault allegations faced by the author.
WW Norton and Company told the media recently that they were “permanently putting out of print our editions of Philip Roth: The Biography and The Splendid Things We Planned … Mr Bailey will be free to seek publication elsewhere if he chooses.”
The publisher also stated they would match Bailey’s book advance figure as a donation to “organisations that fight against sexual assault or harassment and work to protect survivors”.
The decision came swiftly after the New York Times, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Associated Press reported that Bailey, a former eighth grade English teacher in New Orleans, was accused of allegedly being inappropriate with his students, including seeking sexual relationships with them.
Bailey was let go from his agency, Story Factory, after further assault allegations from students and a former publishing executive.
Bailey has denied all allegations.
His attorney said in a statement: “Norton made the drastic, unilateral decision to take Mr Bailey’s books out of print, based on the false and unsubstantiated allegations against him, without undertaking any investigation or offering Mr Bailey the opportunity to refute the allegations. Mr Bailey’s European publishers wisely have not taken such a rash course of action, and Norton’s kneejerk reaction is troubling and unwarranted.”
The Roth biography may still be available in the US as an audiobook as it had been released by a different company, Recorded Books Inc.
Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, noted that the publisher’s decision could set a difficult precedent prompting the removal of “thousands of books by bigots, misogynists and miscreants”.
She said in a statement, “while these books may be picked up elsewhere, once that stigma is attached there may not be another publisher willing to touch them.”
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