Woody Allen’s memoir released by new publisher
NEW YORK — Woody Allen’s memoir, dropped by its original publisher after widespread criticism, has found a new home, the Associated Press has learned. The 400-page book, still called Apropos of Nothing, was released Monday by Arcade Publishing.
“The book is a candid and comprehensive personal account by Woody Allen of his life,” Arcade announced, “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.”
With little advance notice, the 84-yearold filmmaker’s book arrives at a time when much of the world is otherwise preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic. Arcade is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, and a Skyhorse spokeswoman said no decisions had been made on whether he would give any interviews. Financial details for his deal with Arcade were not released, and the spokeswoman had no immediate comment on whether the book would come out in Europe, where publishers in several countries have expressed interest.
Apropos of Nothing begins in the wry tone of such literary heroes as J.D. Salinger
and George S. Kaufman, describing his New York City upbringing and love affairs with Diane Keaton and others with a sense of nostalgia and angst that also mirrors Allen movies ranging from Radio Days and The Purple Rose
of Cairo to Annie Hall and Hannah and
Her Sisters. But it darkens and becomes defensive, not surprisingly, as he recalls his relationship with Mia Farrow and the allegations he abused daughter Dylan Farrow that for many have come to define his public image in recent years.
He was with Mia Farrow for more than a decade, and recalls happy times with the “very, very beautiful” actress that would cool over the years, especially after the 1987 birth of their one biological child, Ronan (named Satchel at birth). As he has alleged before, he and Farrow were essentially apart by the time he began dating her daughter Soon-Yi Previn, more than 30 years younger than him, in the early 1990s. “At the very early stages of our new relationship, when lust reigns supreme … we couldn’t keep our hands off each other,” he writes of Previn, whom he married in 1997 and to whom he dedicates the book.
“Sometimes, when the going got rough and I was maligned everywhere, I was asked if I had known the outcome, do I ever wish I never took up with Soon-Yi?” he writes. “I always answered I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Allen has long denied sexually abusing Dylan, and, as he has alleged before, he speculates that the accusations arose from what he calls Farrow’s “Ahab-like quest” for revenge. “I never laid a finger on Dylan, never did anything to her that could be even misconstrued as abusing her; it was a total fabrication from start to finish,” he writes. Describing a visit to Farrow’s Connecticut house in August 1992, when he allegedly molested Dylan, he acknowledges briefly placing his head on his 7-year-old daughter’s lap, but adds: “I certainly didn’t do anything improper to her. I was in a room full of people watching TV mid-afternoon.”