(np) Forward review of Bailey/Roth

[Jochen Stremmel]

Last paragraph of Wolcott, in case somebody didn't make it so far:

As for his disgraced Boswell, Blake Bailey, his life, career, reputation
and name have been rat-holed at record speed. He and his story will serve
as a case study for some future literary autopsist. I opposed the campaign
to cancel further printings of *Philip Roth: The Biography* on the
democratic principle that if I was able to buy and read the book, which has
substantial merits despite its disfigurement, it’s only fair that everybody
else is; that’s now moot, at least in the US. Norton’s decision to
permanently deep-six The Biography and make a sizeable donation to sexual
abuse organisations was declared a victory by most commentators and decried
by a smaller number as Woke Capitalism caving to the social justice mob, a
culture clash that will keep the hearties of the opinion pages,
Twitterverse and Substack Nation busy sharpening their certitudes for the
next volley of javelin throws. Unscathed and unmucked is the perfectly fine
Life of Roth sitting in plain view minding its own business with no stink
attached – Ira Nadel’s. It would be a tasty irony if the also-ran emerged
as the upset winner after all. It would be the only light note in this
whole misbegotten *mishegas*. But if, as an educated consumer, you’re
disinclined to read another word about Philip Roth, or another word by
Philip Roth, I’d say only this: give* My Life as a Man* a try. It still
rips.
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