Podcast: Should We Burn Philip Roth?

The estate of the late writer might destroy thousands of pages of private papers and manuscripts. A conversation about the need to preserve cultural history.

Jeet Heer

May 22, 2021

I swear to God not every podcast in this newsletter will be about Philip Roth! But, as it happens, after the excellent first podcast with Jessica Johnson about the scandal over Roth biographer Blake Bailey, a parallels scandal has erupted about the possibility that the Roth estate might destroy many of the private papers, making up thousands of pages, that went into the making of Bailey’s authorized biography. The items that could be burned include at least two book length manuscripts as well as letters and interviews. My friend Alex Shephard has done some fine shoe-leather reporting on matter for The New Republic so I wanted to sit down with him for a chat.

Our discussion extends far beyond Roth and is really about the the nature of literary estates and how best to preserve the cultural past. It’s a complex matter. Sometimes authors on their deathbed ask for their works to be destroyed. But we live in a richer world because Virgil, Emily Dickinson and Franz Kafka were disobeyed in their request for a bonfire of their work. Some estates do a bang-up job of promoting the work of a dead creator, others are mercenary or negligent.

Among the writers and creators discussed in the podcast: Virgil, Franz Kafka, Harper Lee, Roberto Bolaño, Charles Schulz, Dr. Seuss, Sylvia Plath, W.G. Sebald, Dori Seda, Jimi Hendrix, Vivian Gornick, Claire Bloom, and Woody Allen. Overhanging it all is the notorious agent Andrew “The Jackal” Wylie. It’s a really fun conversation which I think people will enjoy.

I can’t resist sharing this Gilbert Hernandez drawing which isn’t about Philip Roth but really does capture the last 20 years of Roth’s life.