Philip Roth: The Biography is a 2021 book by biographer Blake Bailey. It is the authorized biography of American novelist Philip Roth (1933–2018). It was first published on April 6, 2021, by W. W. Norton & Company. Norton, however, later cancelled publication of the book following allegations of sexual misconduct against Bailey. Three weeks later, in May 2021, Skyhorse Publishing announced that it would release paperback, ebook, and audiobook versions of the biography.
Contents Prologue Part One LAND HO! - 1933-1956 Part Two DON'T STEP ON THE UNDERDOG - 1956-1968 Part Three THE MORONIC INFERNO - 1968-1975 Part Four ENTERING A DOLL'S HOUSE - 1975-1995 Part Five AMERICAN MASTER - 1995-2006 Part Six NEMESES - 2006-2018
EPILOGUE
Background In 2004, American novelist Philip Roth enlisted Ross Miller, a professor at the University of Connecticut and nephew of playwright Arthur Miller, to write an authorized biography of Roth. In 2009, however, they mutually agreed to abandon their arrangement. Roth and Miller, who were close friends, had a falling out over the direction in which the project was going. Roth reportedly began interfering in Miller's process, including manipulating his interviews.
Blake Bailey, an American writer from Oklahoma, previously published biographies of novelists Richard Yates, John Cheever, and Charles Jackson. After completing his biography of Jackson, Bailey approached Philip Roth in the spring of 2012. In June 2012, Roth and Bailey signed a collaboration agreement. The agreement granted Bailey unrestricted and exclusive access to the author's complete archives, including his unpublished works and personal correspondence. Roth, who was 79 years old at the time, made himself available for extensive interviews conducted by Bailey. Roth also assisted in encouraging friends and family to cooperate in the process. The deal was first reported in The New York Times on September 5, 2012. On September 28, 2012, it was reported that W. W. Norton & Company acquired the rights to the book. At the time, Bailey estimated that the biography would take him eight to ten years to finish writing.
Bailey spent years researching and organizing content for the book, writing a 35-page outline and envisioning each paragraph before the writing process. He officially started writing the book in December 2017. He referenced from a plethora of Roth's papers and Roth's donated materials at the Library of Congress. He was also given a 300-page chronology written by Roth and a copy of Roth's unpublished book Notes for My Biographer. Bailey also inherited Ross Miller's taped interviews; however, Miller would not respond to Bailey's communications. Bailey also referenced from his own interviews which he conducted with 150 people, in addition to the numerous interviews with Roth. He also had a very brief communication with Claire Bloom. In his first interviews with Roth, Bailey expressed his desire to maintain a professional relationship to not repeat the "disturbing" relationship he had with Ross Miller. Bailey demanded freedom to quote from Roth's documents, and that Roth and his team were not to edit his manuscript for any purposes except for factual accuracy. Although Roth at times attempted to sway the narrative in his own direction, Bailey "quietly" went his own way.
Roth died of congestive heart failure on May 22, 2018, at the age of 85.
Publication The book was published in the United States by W. W. Norton & Company on April 6, 2021, and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on April 8, 2021. An audiobook, narrated George Guidall, was released the same day by Recorded Books. The book debuted at number fifteen on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending April 10, 2021.
Cancellation In April 2021, Bailey was dropped by his agency, the Story Factory, following allegations of sexual misconduct made in the comments section of a literary blog; Bailey denies the allegations. In a statement to the Associated Press on April 21 by W. W. Norton & Company, the publisher announced that it decided to pause the shipping and promotion of Philip Roth: The Biography "pending any further information that may emerge". On April 28, W. W. Norton announced that it is taking the book out of print. The same day, Recorded Books announced that it would be withdrawing the audiobook edition from release.
On May 17, 2021, Skyhorse Publishing announced that it would release a paperback, ebook, and audiobook versions of the biography. The e-book edition was published on May 26, 2021. The paperback version was published on June 29, 2021.
Reception Pre-allegation reviews Initial reviews of for the biography were generally positive upon its release on April 6, 2021 before accusations appeared online alleging sexual misconduct by its author.Alter and Schuessler, 2021: "Although some literary critics were skeptical of Mr. Bailey's book, the biography also drew coverage and praise from some corners."Walsh, 2021: "Bailey's 880-page book, well-received critically and considered one of the important works of the year in its field,.."Prose, 2021: "The Biography was already appearing on several bestseller lists before the dream publication imploded."
Alexander C. Kafka of The Washington Post praised the book for being "conversationally readable" despite its length, and wrote that "no one writing about Roth will be able to sidestep this foundational biography". In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it an "outstanding" biography, praising Bailey's "evenhanded" treatment of Roth's books and personal flaws. Publishers Weekly, in its starred review, praised Bailey's "consistently luminous, humorous prose" and called it "as dynamic and gripping as any of Roth's own fictions".
In an early negative review, Parul Sehgal of The New York Times felt the author failed his subject and called the book a "narrow portrait of a wide life". Sehgal criticized Bailey's "sprawling" focus on Roth's personal life and his reticence on Roth's literary work and style: "Roth's own writing was full of provocations on the art of biography, full of masks and veils and alter egos, obsessed with plucking apart the idea of a self. Bailey avoids it all, offering readings of the most tepid kind, primarily noticing biographical correspondences, most of them familiar by now."
Writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Steven G. Kellman called Bailey's work "a balanced, thorough account" of his subject.Kellman, 2021: "[A] balanced, thorough account of an enormously gifted and troubled troublemaker."
Cynthia Ozick in The New York Times Book Review bestowed high praise on the biography, calling it "a narrative masterpiece." Ozick, 2021Prose, 2021: "Cynthia Ozick praised it as "a narrative masterwork" in an eloquent, impassioned review in the New York Times Book Review."
Post-allegation reviews Francine Prose in The Guardian noted that her initially favorable impression of the biography underwent a reassessment in light of the reports of sexual misconduct concerning Bailey. Prose, 2021: "I'd nearly finished Bailey's book, and the truth is: I enjoyed it…I wasn't disappointed by Bailey's lack of ‘objectivity', because (again to be honest) I wasn't looking for a historical record or a moral reckoning with Roth, but rather for gossip, preferably sordid–and there is plenty of that." Prose notes in retrospect:
Critic Alexandra Schwartz at The New Yorker faults W. W. Norton & Co. for neglecting to investigate a pseudonymous email charging author Bailey with rape in 2015. Schwartz termed this "a profound and sinister failure of accountability in the publishing world."Schwartz, 2021: "The fact that Norton was presented with such an accusation and apparently did so little to investigate it is a stain on the publisher's own reputation, one that will be difficult to erase." As to the literary merits of the biography, Schwartz deplores Bailey's "obsessive cataloging" of Roth's sexual proclivities, and as such, exposing his subject to further charges of misogyny.Schwartz, 2021: "Was Roth a misogynist? I have always found that label too neat and summarily dismissive for a novelist as capacious, inventive, and playful as Roth."
Critic Ruth Franklin writing in the New York Times, acknowledged that, though "there has been no investigation as yet into the allegations against Mr. Bailey," she questioned the capacity of male biographers to do justice to their male subjects: "Just as female critics have noticed instances of misogyny in Mr. Bailey's writing, a female biographer would likely have a more critical perspective on Mr. Roth's relationships with women." Bailey had previously written a review in the Wall Street Journal critical of Franklin's 2016 biography of author Shirley Jackson, accusing the author of feminist bias.Walsh, 2021: "In his Wall Street Journal review of Franklin's book, Blake Bailey had taken issue with the author's characterization of Jackson ‘as a kind of feminist prophet who anticipated the findings of Betty Friedan—I lost count of how many times that name was invoked…'"
Reactions to the cancellation Writing in the New York Times, culture reporters Alexander Alter and Jennifer Schuessler noted that Norton's action reflects the influence of the #MeToo movement, eliciting "concern from free expression groups."Alter and Schuessler, 2021: "Since the #MeToo movement began, publishers have canceled contracts with a number of authors who have faced charges of sexual harassment and assault." And: "Pulling books that have already been published is less common, and even Norton's initial "‘pause' last week drew concern from free expression groups."Walsh, 2021: The cancellation "conforms to a pattern of trial-by-media that has been ‘perfected' since the launching of the #MeToo witch-hunt in October 2017."
Authors Guild submitted a protest to the book's cancellation: "Freedom of expression and the freedom to publish are the bedrock principles upon which literary culture and civil society are built. Removing a published book from circulation because of the authors' conduct and resulting adverse public opinion against the author or the subject, no matter how strong and justified, contradicts important principles of free speech and open discourse."
PEN America's chief executive Suzanne Nossel issued a statement on the cancellation, questioning Norton's cancellation: "We are concerned about a precedent whereby even egregious misdeeds by an author result in a book being withdrawn, and potentially taken off limits for readers" but cautioning that a distinction be made between the merits of a literary work and its author. Nossel, 2021
On April 22, 2021, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) registered objections to Norton's "pause" in distribution of the biography, declaring "books must be judged on their content."
Short-story writer James Morrison, film historian Max Alvarez, author and blogger Kathleen Spaltro, biographer Joseph McBride, and film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum each penned objections to the book's censorship in the World Socialist Web Site.Walsh, 2021
Footnotes
Sources Alter, Alexander; Schuessler, Jennifer. 2021. "Norton Takes Philip Roth Biography Out of Print". New York Times, April 27, 2021.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/books/norton-philip-roth-biography-blake-bailey.html Accessed 01 September, 2026. Bailey, Blake. 2016. "Life Among the Savages." Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2016.https://www.wsj.com/articles/life-among-the-savages-1474662721 Accessed 04 September, 2026. Bailey, Blake. 2021. Philip Roth: The Biography. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. . Kellman, Steven G.. 2021. "On Lives and Counterlives." Los Angeles Review of Books, April 8, 2021.https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/on-lives-and-counterlives/ Access 31 August, 2026.