Overview

Charles Jackson’s novel The Lost Weekend—the story of five disastrous days in the life of an alcoholic—was published in 1944 to triumphant success. Although he tried to escape its legacy, Jackson is often remembered only as the author of this thinly veiled autobiography. In Farther & Wilder, the award-winning biographer of Richard Yates and John Cheever goes deeper, exploring Jackson’s life—from growing up in the scandal-plagued village of Newark, New York, to a career in Hollywood and friendships with everyone from Judy Garland and Billy Wilder to Thomas Mann and Mary McCarthy. This is the fascinating biography of a writer whose life and work encapsulated what it meant to be an addict and a closeted homosexual in mid-century America, and who was far ahead of his time in bringing these forbidden subjects into the popular discourse.

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9780307475527

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Reviews

Brilliant and gripping. . . . A great American biography. -- Wall Street Journal Arresting. . . . Bailey is the literary biographer of our generation. -- San Francisco Chronicle Scrupulous and compassionate. . . . As a portrait of the artist as a ruined man, Bailey's account is a chilling addition to the museum of literary failure. . . . He presents [Jackson] credibly, with diligence and sympathy, as a man infatuated with the romantic image of The Writer. -- The New York Times Meticulous and sensitive. -- The New Yorker Bailey has made an author come alive in a way that is truly novelistic, has made him submit to becoming a character in a story. . . . A kind of miracle, one that we can all be grateful for. -- Wall Street Journal The novelist Charles Jackson may not be as well known as subjects of Blake Bailey's previous biographies . . . but he is no less fascinating. In Farther & Wilder . . . Mr. Bailey portrays his life with the same dogged attention to detail, literary panache and brilliant storytelling that he brought to those other subjects. . . . Mr. Bailey's triumph is in fleshing out both Jackson's literary legacy and the man himself. -- New York Observer Impressive. . . . Reminds us not only how biography can be good, but also why the genre matters--how it can excavate importance from histories that might otherwise be forgotten. . . . Bailey's achievement is staggering. -- Los Angeles Review of Books A fascinating anatomy of failure. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune [A] rich, probing biography. . . . Shrewdly analyzes Jackson's sometimes crippling, sometimes fertile contradictions. . . . [A] compelling portrait of a conflicted writer whose genius emerges in dubious battle with his demons. --Publishers Weekly [A] case for the resurrection of this deeply prescient and problematic novelist, who broke open taboos about alcoholics andc

Praise for Farther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson <br> By Blake Bailey <br> A great American biography ... brilliant and gripping ... Mr. Bailey has made an author come alive in a way that is truly novelistic, has made him submit to becoming a character in a story. . . .a Greek myth crossed with a Sherwood Anderson tale. . . . That Blake Bailey should come along 45 years later and grant [fame to Charles Jackson] is a kind of miracle, one that we can all be grateful for. --Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal <br> Arresting ... Bailey is the literary biographer of our generation.... [his] biography shows us the artfulness of Jackson's life and work: the self-consciouness, the refusal to take anything for granted. ... The publication of this new biography and the reprinting of the books themselves ignite the excitement once again, and Bailey has given us a writer who can, on every page, throw us out of our chairs. --Seth Lerer, San Francisco Chronicle <br> <br> Scrupulous and compassionate ... As a portrait of the artist as a ruined man, Bailey's account is a chilling addition to the museum of literary failure, to be mounted somewhere in the long hall between 'The Crack-Up' and 'The Shining.' <br>--Donna Rifkind, New York Times Book Review <br> The novelist Charles Jackson may not be as well known as subjects of Blake Bailey's previous biographies ... but he is no less fascinating. In Farther & Wilder ... Mr. Bailey portrays his life with the same dogged attention to detail, literary panache and brilliant storytelling that he brought to those other subjects ... Mr. Bailey's triumph is in fleshing out both Jackson's literary legacy and the man himself. --Sarah Douglas, New York Observer <br> A fascinating anatomy of failure. --Carl Rollyson, The Star Tribune <br> A once-celebrated American novelist wrestles with the Big Three writerly adversaries--substance abuse, repressed homosexuality, and social con

Author Information

Blake Bailey is the author of A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Cheever: A Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Parkman Prize, and a finalist for the Pulitzer and James Tait Black Memorial Prizes. He edited a two-volume edition of Cheever’s work for the Library of America, and in 2010 received an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

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