Blake Bailey est célébré pour ses biographies incisives de figures littéraires marquantes, plongeant dans les complexités de leurs vies et de leurs processus créatifs. Son travail se caractérise par une recherche méticuleuse et une profonde compréhension de la psyché humaine, offrant aux lecteurs des aperçus saisissants sur l'esprit d'auteurs renommés. L'approche de Bailey éclaire la relation complexe entre l'expérience personnelle et la production artistique, rendant ses sujets à la fois accessibles et infiniment fascinants. Ses récits biographiques sont une lecture essentielle pour quiconque s'intéresse au pouvoir durable de la littérature et aux vies qui l'ont façonnée.
Focusing on the life of Richard Yates, this biography delves into the complexities of the acclaimed American novelist and story writer known for his poignant explorations of disillusionment and the human condition. The narrative offers a deep insight into Yates' struggles, influences, and literary contributions, revealing the man behind the celebrated works. Blake Bailey presents a compelling portrait that captures both the brilliance and the tragedies of Yates' life, making it an essential read for fans of American literature.
Exploring the life of Charles Jackson, this biography delves into his experiences as an alcoholic and a closeted homosexual in mid-century America. It chronicles his upbringing in Newark, New York, his Hollywood career, and his connections with notable figures like Judy Garland and Billy Wilder. The author highlights how Jackson's struggles and achievements reflect broader societal issues, particularly his pioneering role in addressing addiction and sexuality in literature. This work offers a profound look at a complex writer's influence and legacy.
"'I don't want you to rehabilitate me,' Philip Roth said to his only authorized biographer, Blake Bailey. 'Just make me interesting.' Granted complete independence and access, Bailey spent almost ten years poring over Roth's personal archive, interviewing his friends, lovers, and colleagues, and listening to Roth's own breathtakingly candid confessions. Cynthia Ozick, in her front-page rave for the New York Times Book Review, described Bailey's monumental biography as 'a narrative masterwork ... As in a novel, what is seen at first to be casual chance is revealed at last to be a steady and powerfully demanding drive. ... under Bailey's strong light what remains on the page is one writer's life as it was lived, and--almost--as it was felt.' Though Roth is generally considered an autobiographical novelist--his alter-egos include not only the Roth-like writer Nathan Zuckerman, but also a recurring character named Philip Roth--relatively little is known about the actual life on which so vast an oeuvre was supposedly based. Bailey reveals a man who, by design, led a highly compartmentalized life: a tireless champion of dissident writers behind the Iron Curtain on the one hand, Roth was also the Mickey Sabbath-like roué who pursued scandaloous love affairs and aspired '[t]o affront and affront and affront till there was no one on earth unaffronted'--the man who was pilloried by his second wife, the actress Claire Bloom, in her 1996 memoir, Leaving a Doll's House. Towering above it all was Roth's achievement: thirty-one books that give us 'the truest picture we have of the way we live now,' as the poet Mark Strand put it in his remarks for Roth's Gold Medal at the 2001 American Academy of Arts and Letters ceremonial. Tracing Roth's path from realism to farce to metafiction to the tragic masterpieces of the American Trilogy, Bailey explores Roth's engagement with nearly every aspect of postwar American culture." -- Publisher's website
John Cheever spent much of his career impersonating a perfect suburban gentleman, the better to become one of the foremost chroniclers of postwar America. Written with unprecedented access to essential sources—including Cheever’s massive journal, only a fraction of which has ever been published—Bailey’s Cheever is a stunning example of the biographer’s art and a brilliant tribute to an essential author.
Meet the Baileys: Burck, a prosperous lawyer once voted the American Legion's "Citizen of the Year" in his tiny hometown of Vinita, Oklahoma; his wife Marlies, who longs to recapture her festive life in Greenwich Village as a fetching young German immigrant, fresh off the boat; their addled son Scott, who repeatedly crashes the family Porsche; and Blake, the younger son, trying to find a way through the storm. "You're gonna be just like me," a drunken Scott taunts him. "You're gonna be worse." Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Blake Bailey has been hailed as "addictively readable" (New York Times) and praised for his ability to capture lives "compellingly and in harrowing detail" (Time). The Splendid Things We Planned is his darkly funny account of growing up in the shadow of an erratic and increasingly dangerous brother, an exhilarating and sometimes harrowing story that culminates in one unforgettable Christmas.
Die erste umfassende Philip-Roth-Biografie. „Der wichtigste Schriftsteller unserer Zeit.“ Willi Winkler, Süddeutsche Zeitung Um das Leben des Philip Roth ranken sich unzählige Gerüchte und Geschichten – sicher auch inspiriert von den autobiografischen Spuren, die er in seinen Romanen legte. Noch zu Lebzeiten engagierte er Blake Bailey als seinen Biografen, dem er in langen Gesprächen Rede und Antwort stand und dem er exklusiven Zugang zu seinem Archiv gewährte. Roths Geschichte des Aufstiegs aus kleinen Verhältnissen zu literarischem Weltruhm zeigt sein Werk in einem neuen Licht und erzählt dazu von den großen politischen und kulturellen Debatten seiner Zeit – ein biografisches Meisterwerk und spannendes Gesellschaftsbild einer ganzen Epoche.
