''Apropos of Nothing'' is a 2020 memoir by American filmmaker and humorist
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
. The book was originally due to be published by
Grand Central Publishing
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hache ...
, an imprint of
Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Gr ...
, in April 2020,
but on March 6, 2020, Hachette said they would no longer publish it.
The memoir was published, in English, by
Arcade Publishing
Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction.
The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (J ...
and, in Italian, by La nave di Teseo on March 23, 2020. The photo of Allen on the back cover photo was taken by his longtime friend and frequent co-star
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...
.
A statement by Arcade Publishing called the book "a candid and comprehensive personal account by Woody Allen of his life, ranging from his childhood in Brooklyn through his acclaimed career in film, theater, television, print and standup comedy, as well as exploring his relationships with family and friends."
Background
Allen has previously published essay collections. He had previously planned to release a memoir in 2003 published by
Penguin, but reportedly changed his mind.
[
]
Contents
''Apropos of Nothing'' covers Allen's childhood in Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in the 1940s, as well as his early career writing on Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950 ...
's ''Your Show of Shows
''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howa ...
'' with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...
, Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
, and Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series ''M*A*S*H'', and as co-writer of the B ...
, and his early standup years in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
with Nichols and May and Dick Cavett. Allen also writes about his extensive filmography, and his collaborations with actors throughout his career such as Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...
, Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
, Alan Alda
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...
, Alec Baldwin, and Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (; born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. Known for his roles in blockbusters and foreign films, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in ...
.
Allen also discusses his family life, including his relationship with his wife Soon Yi Previn
Soon-Yi Previn (; , ; born October 8, 1970) is the wife of filmmaker Woody Allen. They have adopted two children together.
Born in Korea, she is the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow and musician André Previn. According to Soon-Yi Prev ...
, ex-partner Mia Farrow
Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...
, biological son Ronan Farrow
Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow (born December 19, 1987) is an American journalist. The son of actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Woody Allen, he is best known for his investigative reporting of allegations of sexual abuse against film producer H ...
, adoptive son Moses Farrow
Moses A. Farrow (born 1978) is a family therapist. The adopted son of actress Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen, he is also known for having come to the defense of his father against a sexual abuse allegation.
Early life and education
Moses ...
, and adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. The book is dedicated to Previn. He also writes of the allegations of child molestation made against him by Dylan Farrow; he denies her charge, made in 1992 and again in 2014, that he sexually abused
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
her when she was seven years old, but expresses sadness over their estrangement. He writes that he "would welcome Dylan with open arms if she'd ever want to reach out to us as Moses did, but so far that's still only a dream."
Allen, who directed Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Hal Chalamet (; ; born December 27, 1995) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three BAFTA Film Awards.
Chalamet began his career as a t ...
in ''A Rainy Day in New York
''A Rainy Day in New York'' is a 2019 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Diego Luna, and Liev Schreiber. The film follows the romantic exploit ...
'' in 2019, commented on Chalamet, who said he did not wish to profit from his work on the film and pledged to donate his salary from the film to three charities: Time's Up, RAINN
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, as well as the Department of Defense Safe Helplin ...
, and the L.G.B.T. Center in New York. In ''Apropos of Nothing'', Woody Allen accuses Chalamet of telling Allen's sister and producer Letty Aronson
Ellen Letty Aronson (née Konigsberg;Hoffman, Barbara"Woody and his sister" ''The New York Post'', October 15, 2011 born November 30, 1943) is an American film producer and is the younger sister of writer and director Woody Allen.
Personal life
...
that, " needed to do that as he was up for an Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
for ''Call Me by Your Name Call Me by Your Name may refer to:
* ''Call Me by Your Name'' (novel), a 2007 novel by André Aciman
* ''Call Me by Your Name'' (film), a 2017 film based on the novel, directed by Luca Guadagnino
** '' Call Me by Your Name: Original Motion Pictur ...
'', and he and his agent felt he had a better chance of winning if he denounced me, so he did."
Allen also reveals that he and Louis C.K.
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
, whom Allen directed in ''Blue Jasmine
''Blue Jasmine'' is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film tells the story of a rich Manhattan socialite (Cate Blanchett) who falls on hard times and has to move into her working-class sister's (Sally Ha ...
'' (2013), attempted to write and act together in a comedy film. Their attempts to collaborate on a script failed, but C. K. contacted Allen years later offering Allen a role in a film he had written and planned to direct. After reading the script, Allen was shocked that the character he would be playing was a famed film director who was once accused of molesting a child, and is in a romantic relationship with a much younger woman. Allen declined the role, thinking the similarities to the allegations made against him would only play "right into the hands of the yahoos." C. K.'s planned film became '' I Love You, Daddy'' (2017). C. K.'s film was dropped by its distributor following sexual misconduct accusations made against him a week prior to the film's intended debut.
Publication
Hachette and cancellation
The sexual abuse allegations against Allen and the Me Too movement
#MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...
reportedly led to Allen's memoir being rejected by several publishers, before being accepted by Grand Central Publishing
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hache ...
, a division of Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Gr ...
.[ The book was officially announced by Grand Central Publishing on March 2, 2020.
Ronan and Dylan Farrow described the publication of the book by Hachette Book Group as "deeply upsetting" and a "betrayal". Ronan Farrow's book '']Catch and Kill
Catch and kill is a surreptitious technique employed by newspapers and media outlets to prevent an individual from publicly revealing information damaging to a third party.
Using a legally enforceable non-disclosure agreement, the tabloid purpor ...
'' (2019) was published by Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...
, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Farrow said that Hachette had shown "a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse" and announced he would no longer work with them. Michael Pietsch, CEO of Hachette Book Group, defended Grand Central Publishing's decision to publish the book, saying, "We do not allow anyone's publishing programme to interfere with anyone else's."
On March 5, 2020, approximately 75 employees of Hachette Book Group staged a walkout
In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest.
A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...
in protest of the book and gathered in Rockefeller Plaza, outside the publisher's New York offices. Other employees met with CEO Michael Pietsch to demand that Hachette cancel the publication of Allen's book. The following day, Hachette Book Group announced it would not publish the book, and would return the rights to Allen.
Reaction to cancellation
Writer Stephen King criticized Hachette's decision to cancel the book on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. King stated, "The Hachette decision to drop the Woody Allen book makes me very uneasy. It's not him; I don't give a damn about Mr Allen. It's who gets muzzled next that worries me ... If you think he's a paedophile
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
, don't buy the book. Don't go to his movies. Don't go listen to him play jazz at the Carlyle Hotel
The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City. O ...
. Vote with your wallet ... In America, that's how we do it." King also said that "it was fucking tone-deaf of Hachette to want to publish Woody Allen's book after publishing Ronan Farrow's."
Suzanne Nossel of PEN America
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...
said, "This case represented something of a perfect storm. It involved not just a controversial book, but a publisher that was working with individuals on both sides of a longstanding and traumatic familial rupture. This presented unique circumstances that clearly coloured the positions staked out and decisions taken. If the end result here is that this book, regardless of its merits, disappears without a trace, readers will be denied the opportunity to read it and render their own judgments." She also said that she hoped the controversy would not mean that publishers would reject "manuscripts that editors think are worthwhile but that are about, or even by, people who may be considered contemptible".
Jo Glanville, the former director of writers' group English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...
and an editor on '' Index on Censorship'', also objected to Hachette's decision. In an article in ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'', Glanville stated, "I am always afraid when a mob, however small and well-read, exercises power without any accountability, process or redress. That frightens me much more than the prospect of Woody Allen's autobiography hitting the bookstores." Noting that Allen had been investigated twice after the accusation of alleged abuse and never charged, Glanville argued that "The staff at Hachette who walked out were not behaving like publishers; they were acting as censors". In an editorial, the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' condemned Ronan Farrow's actions. ''The Post'' wrote, "No matter how deep his anger, it's obscene for a journalist to be silencing anyone. He claims to stand against abusers of power — but he has just flagrantly abused his own". Hachette's decision to cancel the book's publication was also criticized by Hadley Freeman
Hadley Clare Freeman (born 15 May 1978) is an American British journalist based in London. She writes for ''The Sunday Times'', having previously written for ''The Guardian''.
Early life
Freeman was born in New York City to a Jewish family. ...
in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Fiona Sturges in ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', Robbie Collin
Robbie Collin is a British film critic.
Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''.
Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...
in ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', Kyle Smith in ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'', Bret Stephens
Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative journalist, editor, and columnist. He began working as an opinion columnist for ''The New York Times'' in April 2017 and as a senior contributor to NBC News in June 2017.
...
in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Lionel Shriver
Lionel Shriver (born Margaret Ann Shriver; May 18, 1957) is an American author and journalist who lives in the United Kingdom. Her novel '' We Need to Talk About Kevin'' won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.
Early life and education
Shriver ...
in ''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', Douglas Murray in ''The Spectator'', Joe Nocera
Joseph Nocera (born May 6, 1952) is an American business journalist, and author. He has written for The New York Times since April 2005, writing for the Op-Ed page from 2011 to 2015. He was also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.
Early ...
in ''Bloomberg Opinion
Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a ...
'', Laurent Dandrieu in ''Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
'', Rod Dreher
Raymond Oliver Dreher Jr. (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher, is an American writer and editor living in Budapest, Hungary. He is a senior editor and blogger at ''The American Conservative'' and author of several books, including ''H ...
in ''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'', Barbara Kay
Barbara Kay (born 1943) is a columnist for the Canadian newspaper ''National Post''. She also writes a weekly column for '' The Post Millennial'' and a monthly column for '' Epoch Times''.
Kay announced on July 24, 2020, that she was leaving the ...
in the ''National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', and Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer.
Early life
Cooke was born in Sheffield, and is the daughter of a university lecturer.
She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11, before returning to Sheffield, and atten ...
in ''The Observer''.
However, Emily Alford, writing in '''', welcomed the decision. Alford argued that it was disrespectful to sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
survivors for Hachette to publish Allen's book. Alford argued that offering "a 'conflicting point of view' from the same company that, not even a year ago, was championing survivors' stories while promoting ''Catch and Kill'' seems willfully, almost cruelly, obtuse." Alford also described Hachette's decision to publish the book without consulting Ronan and Dylan Farrow and Hachette's employees as "bad ethics and bad business". Writing about the controversy in ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'', Howard Homonoff said, "It's not hard to tag Hachette's efforts here a failure", stating that the company had underestimated the negative social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
response to the announcement of the publication.[
] Homonoff also said that having the same company publish both Allen's books and those of his outspoken critic, Ronan Farrow, "looks tone deaf at best".
Publication by Arcade
The memoir was published in hardcover and e-book on March 23, 2020, by Arcade Publishing
Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction.
The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (J ...
, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont.
History
The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...
.
Arcade Publishing founder Jeannette Seaver described the book as "wonderful, very well-written, extremely entertaining and so honest". "All you need to do is read the book, and you'll understand everything", she claimed. Of Hachette's decision not to publish the book, she said, "I was so appalled that achettewould drop a man like Woody Allen."
The memoir is a best seller o
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon FR
an
Amazon DE
Translations
Spanish
''El Confidencial
''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...
'' reported on March 9, 2020, that Allen's Spanish publisher Alianza remained committed to the book's release, despite Hachette dropping the book. The report said the Spanish-language edition would be called ''A propósito de nada'', and was intended to be published on May 21, 2020.
French
Stock, a French-language subsidiary of Hachette, announced that they planned to publish a French translation of the book (by Marc Amefreville and Antoine Cazé) titled ''Soit dit en passant'' () on May 13, 2020. In an interview with France Inter
France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a " generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...
public radio, Stock's chairman, Manuel Carcassonne, said "Woody Allen is not Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
...Roman Polanski has acknowledged some of the accusations made against him. This is not at all the case for Woody Allen who has always protested his innocence and proved it in U.S. courts." Asked if he thought that authors signed to Stock might object to the publication, Carcassonne said "I haven't had the chance to warn all of our authors... but I think critics of the book will be satisfied and reassured when they read it." Carcassonne also said he was reassured by the reaction of his all-woman team of editors to reading the book. "Any reticence my own team had, simply disappeared after they had read the book. We're not of the same generation, they're young and are naturally into defending women's rights utthey were reassured once they'd read it."
German
A German-language translation was announced by German publisher Rowohlt with the title for publication on April 7, 2020. In an open letter, several German authors published by Rowohlt criticized the company's decision to publish the book without fact-checking first. This includes Giulia Becker, Kirsten Fuchs, Lena Gorelik, Marlene Hellene, Sebastian Janata, Julia Korbik, Sascha Lobo, Anselm Neft, Kathrin Passig
Kathrin Passig (born 4 June 1970) is a German writer.
Life and Works
Passig was born in 1970 in Deggendorf, a small town in Lower Bavaria. She is editor and programmer of the blog "Riesenmaschine" which received the Grimme Online Award 2006, a ...
, Till Raether, Anna Schatz, Aleks Scholz, Nis-Momme Stockmann, Margarete Stokowski
Margarete Stokowski (born April 14, 1986 in Zabrze, Poland) is a Polish-German writer and essayist. She is best known for her weekly essays for the magazine Spiegel Online where she writes about the current state of feminism in Germany. The numbe ...
, Sven Stricker.
Dutch
A Dutch-language translation was announced by Netherlands publisher Uitgeverij Prometheus Uitgeverij Prometheus is a Dutch publishing company whose main focus is on literature, history and language. It was founded by Mai Spijkers in 1989. Bert Bakker is a notable imprint of Prometheus.
History Bert Bakker
Bert Bakker was founded in ...
under the title ''À propos.'' for publication on April 7, 2020.
Czech
A Czech-language translation was published by under the title ''Mimochodem'' on March 18, 2021. The translation is by Michael Žantovský, a well-known translator, former Czech Ambassador to the United States and currently director of Vaclav Havel Library.
Reception
The book has received mixed reviews, with some critics attacking its attitude to women and supposed self-obsession, while others have praised its humour and easy-going narrative voice. At the review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Book Marks
Literary Hub is a daily literary website that launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter.
Conten ...
, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the book received a cumulative "Pan" rating based on 12 reviews: 2 "Positive" reviews, 4 "Mixed" reviews, and 6 "Pan" reviews.
Writing in ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', author Monica Hesse panned Allen's "terrible" and "preposterous" memoir, criticizing its "total lack of self-awareness," as well as criticizing Allen for releasing the book during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Maureen Callahan of the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' gave the book a negative review, calling it "the most tone-deaf, disgusting, bitter, self-pitying, horrifically un-put-downable memoirs since '' Mein Kampf''."
Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind (born 1940) is an American cultural critic, film historian, journalist and former executive editor of ''Premiere'' magazine from 1986 to 1996.
Biography
He attended Swarthmore College and wrote several books depicting life in Holl ...
of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' praised Allen's "fusillade of one-liners, two-liners, three-liners" in the book as well as the "vivid detail" about the people Allen has worked with in his film career. Tim Robey of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' called it a "guilt-inducingly fun memoir," praising the passages about Allen's childhood as well as the "irresistible self-deprecation" Allen employs when detailing his career. Kyle Smith of ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'' called the book "an absolute delight, hilarious and endearing and glistening with stardust." In an interview with ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
called it "a fantastic book, so funny. You feel like you're in the room with him... it's just a great book and it's hard to walk away after reading that book thinking that this guy did anything wrong."
Dwight Garner of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' praised the book for being "occasionally funny" and admired parts of it for showcasing Allen's "authentic and easygoing voice," but criticized it as being "incredibly, unbelievably tone deaf on the subject of women" with Allen's "gratuitous pronouncement" on physical appearance whenever mentioning a woman. Garner also felt the final third of the book "falls apart dreadfully" with Allen's "handing out of goody bags" and the multiple "banalities" he employs when discussing celebrities he has worked with throughout his career. Peter Bart
Peter Benton Bart (born July 24, 1932) is an American journalist and film producer, writing a column for ''Deadline Hollywood'' since 2015. He is perhaps best known for his lengthy tenure (1989–2009) as the editor in chief of ''Variety'', an ...
of ''Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wit ...
'' favorably reviewed Allen's "hilarious" account of his childhood as well as his "superbly revealing analysis" of his film career, but lamented Allen's "baffling and unhinged report of his personal encounters, which reads like a bad parody of a Dostoevsky novel, with subtitles by Freud."
References
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2020 non-fiction books
American memoirs
Books by Woody Allen
Show business memoirs
Cancelled books
Literature controversies
Arcade Publishing books