Philip Roth Biographer Accused of Rape, Publisher Halts Book
W.W. Norton
The publisher of a hit biography of Philip Roth slammed the brakes on distribution and promotion of the book after its writer was accused of rape.
The New York Times reported Thursday that W.W. Norton, the publisher of new release Philip Roth: The Biography, stopped shipments and promotion of the book after biographer Blake Bailey, 57, was accused of rape by two women.
Bailey, a renowned writer known for his literary biographers (he was a Pulitzer finalist for his John Cheever book), denied the allegations in a statement to the Times, calling them “categorically false and libelous.”
Valentina Rice, a 47-year-old publishing executive, said that Bailey raped her in 2015.
Per the Times:
Valentina Rice, a publishing executive, met Mr. Bailey at the home of Dwight Garner, a book critic for The Times, and his wife in Frenchtown, N.J. A frequent guest at their home, Ms. Rice, 47, planned to stay overnight, as did Mr. Bailey, she said.
After she went to bed, Mr. Bailey entered her room and raped her, she said. She said “no” and “stop” repeatedly, she said in an interview.
Rice told others about the alleged assault at the time.
Another woman said Bailey raped her when she was one of his graduate students:
Eve Peyton, 40, a former student who now works in publicity at a high school in New Orleans, said that Mr. Bailey raped her when she was a graduate student. When she was his student, he treated her as “one of his special girls,” she said, attention that felt flattering and reaffirming at the time.
In June 2003, she was a graduate student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and engaged to be married. She and Mr. Bailey both happened to be visiting New Orleans at the same time and met for drinks. Afterward, he invited her back to the place he was staying, where he kissed her, initiated oral sex, and when she squirmed away, he pinned her to the bed and forcibly had sex with her, she said. He finally stopped when she told him she wasn’t using birth control, she recalled.
After he drove her to her father’s house, where she was staying, Mr. Bailey said he had “wanted her” since the day they met, when she was 12, Ms. Peyton said.
Like Rice, Peyton said she did not go to the police, but told two friends about the alleged assault at the time. In an email obtained by the Times, Bailey apologized to Peyton for his behavior a few days later. He also emailed her again in 2020, “in which he alluded to ‘the awfulness on that night 17 years ago’ and said he was suffering from mental illness at the time,” per the Times.
The Times report also contains allegations from Bailey’s former middle school students in the 1990s, who said he acted inappropriately in order to “groom” them.
