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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.
“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
“I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you — it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.”
“Is an intelligent human being likely to be much more than a large-scale manufacturer of misunderstanding?”
“Turned the wrong way around, the relentless unforeseen was what we schoolchildren studied as “History,” harmless history, where everything unexpected in its own time is chronicled on the page as inevitable. The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic.”
“There’s a plot afoot all right, and I’ll gladly name the forces propelling it—hysteria, ignorance, malice, stupidity, hatred, and fear. What a repugnant spectacle our country has become! Falsehood, cruelty, and madness everywhere, and brute force in the wings waiting to finish us off.”
“There is an epidemic and he needs a reason for it. [...] That it is pointless, contingent, preposterous, and tragic will not satisfy him. That is is a proliferating virus will not satisfy him.”
Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.
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