Farther & Wilder by Blake Bailey

Farther & Wilder by Blake Bailey

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.

The Library of America issued a two-volume edition of Cheever's work in 2009. Blake Bailey edited it. His most recent work, A Tragic Honesty, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. In 2005, he was awarded a Guggenheim grant, and his work has appeared in Slate, The New York Times, the New York Observer, and other publications. He and his wife and daughter live in Virginia.