acquired again

Daniel Ross Goodman added this postscript to his opinion piece that the authorized Philip Roth biography should not be judged by its author or subject, and that readers and scholars ought to have access to the book.

Postscript: On May 17^th, it was announced that Skyhorse Publishing had acquired Philip Roth: The Biography, and that it intends to begin distributing it in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats on June 15. Informing the press of its decision, Tom Lyons, the president of Skyhorse, stated that “a biography must be judged by the quality of the writing, the importance of the subject matter, and the value of the scholarship,” and that its editors had concluded that [Blake] Bailey’s book met these criteria. “This is obviously an important and comprehensive book about an author The New Yorker called a ‘literary genius,’ said Lyons. “I’m proud to publish it.”

Read more at the paper of moderately capitalist record.

Although I don't plan on reading the Roth biography—frankly, the reviews and hooplah are enough—I'm glad I stuck with Bailey's earlier Charles Jackson biography, a book I came to because I appreciated his even earlier biography of Richard Yates. Of course, it's unlikely that I would have begun the Jackson biography so soon after the news broke, but I was past a hundred pages in and rather than turn off the professional sporting event or toss the Woody Allen dvds, I read on. The book, and Jackson's life, would appeal to anyone interested in alcoholism, AA, fleeting fame, literary obscurity, writers in Hollywood, pre-Stonewall sexual identities, the American 20th century, small town life, Shakespeare's influence on an American writer, and much much more.