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, faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by women who were once his high school students.
These allegations are serious. In light of them, we have decided to pause the transmission and promotion of Philip Roth: The Biography pending further information that may emerge, ”said Bailey’s US publisher WW Norton in a statement to the Associated Press on Wednesday. His UK publisher, Penguin Random House, has been contacted for comment.
Bailey was a teacher at Lusher Middle School in New Orleans in the 1990s. Numerous former students have recently claimed that Bailey displayed inappropriate and manipulative behavior when he was their teacher. They claimed he “ cared for ” them and then pursued a sexual relationship with them shortly after they graduated. A former college student, Eve Crawford Peyton, also accused him of raping her when she was 22, in an interview with the Times Picayune / New Orleans Advocate.
In a letter quoted by the LA Times, Peyton wrote, “These stories have been whispered about or shared over a glass of wine by former students, who all thought they were the only ones, for decades. His behavior was kind of an open secret, and it definitely followed a pattern and was textbook grooming, but nobody ever said anything … To be fair, he never did anything then, not in eighth grade. But he laid the foundation. With dirty jokes, sly comments, hugs that lasted a little too long, encouraging us to share our personal lives as soon as we got to high school (‘Write me about your last slap-and-tickle’). “
Bailey, whose works include biographies of John Cheever, Richard Yates and Charles Jackson, has denied any wrongdoing. In response to allegations made by four former students, including Peyton, his attorney told the Times Picayune / New Orleans Advocate, “ Mr. Bailey has never acted inappropriately with a student and has never received more than a complaint about his time at Lusher. . 20 years ago … It is absurd to suggest that many years later, as adults, he provided students for anticipated encounters. The allegations in your email are false, hurtful descriptions of behavior between adults. Mr. Bailey has never treated a woman inappropriately and never forced himself on a woman. “
A Lusher spokesperson confirmed that from 1992 onwards, Bailey had not been the subject of complaints of inappropriate behavior while teaching at the school for about nine years.
It was revealed on Tuesday that Bailey had been dropped by his literary agency, the Story Factory. The agency told the LA Times it ended the relationship “immediately after we learned of the troubling allegations.”
Bailey’s book, released in early April, was one of the most anticipated literary biographies of recent years and has hit the bestseller lists. Much of the coverage is focused on, in Bailey’s words, Roth’s “breathtaking insipidness towards women.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.