Blake Bailey | |
|---|---|
 January 2011 | |
| Born | (1963-07-01)July 1, 1963 (age 61) |
| Occupation | Biographer |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Tulane University |
Blake Bailey[1] (born July 1, 1963) is an American writer, and educator. Bailey is known for hisliterary biographies ofRichard Yates,John Cheever,Charles Jackson, andPhilip Roth. He is the editor of theLibrary of America omnibus editions of Cheever's stories and novels. Bailey came under fire and his biography of Roth was pulled following multiple allegations and witness accounts of rape. Those who shared their stories included multiple former grade school students.
Bailey grew up inOklahoma City and attended high school atBishop McGuinness Catholic High School, where he was friends with another future author,Dan Fagin.[2] He was a student atTulane University, from which he graduated in 1985.
Bailey and his family lost their house and most of their possessions inHurricane Katrina, an experience he wrote about in a series of articles forSlate.[3]
In 2009–2010, Bailey was Writer in Residence atThe College of William and Mary in Virginia.[4] From 2010 to 2016, he was the Mina Hohenberg Darden Professor of Creative Writing atOld Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.[5] He was succeeded byBlack Elk authorJoe Jackson.[5] Bailey is a tennis enthusiast.[6]
After college, Bailey wrote occasional freelance pieces. He taught gifted eighth-graders atLusher Middle School in New Orleans in the 1990s.[7]
After publishing a long critical profile ofRichard Yates, Bailey was contracted to write a full-length biography of the novelist,A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates (2003).
In 2005, Bailey was awarded aGuggenheim Fellowship to work on his biography,Cheever: A Life, which won the 2009National Book Critics Circle Award among other honors. Bailey also edited a two-volume edition of Cheever's work for theLibrary of America.
Bailey published his biography of the novelistCharles Jackson,Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson (2013), as well as a memoir,The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait (2014).
In an interview withThe New York Times published on November 17, 2012,Philip Roth said that Bailey was his official biographer and at work on that project.[8] While Roth was alive, he gave Bailey exclusive access to papers, friends and family, and made himself available for extensive interviews.[9][10] Bailey's 880-page biography of Roth, entitledPhilip Roth: The Biography, was published in the United States by W. W. Norton & Company on April 6, 2021,[11] and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on April 8, 2021.
Bailey’s primary influence isLytton Strachey, who he has praised for his style and sense of humor.[12] Other influences on Bailey’s work includeVladimir Nabokov,Evelyn Waugh, andPG Wodehouse.[13]
On April 16, 2021, several former students of Bailey's left comments on a critical review of Bailey's Roth biography, alleging that Bailey had groomed them when they were minors.[14] On April 18, 2021, Bailey was dropped by his agency, the Story Factory, following these allegations of sexual misconduct, which Bailey denied.[15] On April 20, 2021, journalists Ramon Antonio Vargas and Edward Champion first reported on these allegations in detail.[16][17] Bailey was accused ofgrooming his former students at Lusher Middle School for sex.[18] One former student, Eve Crawford Peyton, has accused Bailey of raping her when she was 22 years old.[19] On April 27, 2021, he was also accused of "nonconsensual sex" by Valentina Rice, a publishing executive.[20]
On June 10, 2021, in an article published in the Virginian-Pilot, four women at Old Dominion University, where Bailey had previously worked, accused Bailey of sexual assault and harassment. One of the women accused Bailey of “grabbing her crotch in a hot tub, forcibly trying to kiss her on campus, [and] threatening to rape her". According to this account, he only stopped after she pulled a knife out and held it against his throat, the newspaper reported. Another account in the Virginian-Pilot's report concerned a female author who visited Old Dominion and described Bailey as having forcibly kissed her. Two graduate students also described Bailey getting "handsy" and making unwanted advances, as well as making sexually explicit comments to them.[21][22]
In a statement provided to theAssociated Press on April 21 by W. W. Norton & Company, the publisher announced it had "decided to pause the shipping and promotion ofPhilip Roth: The Biography pending any further information that may emerge."[23] On April 28, W. W. Norton announced that it is taking the book out of print.[24] Three weeks later, in May 2021,Skyhorse Publishing announced that it would release a paperback, ebook, and audiobook versions of the biography.[25]
