Dear readers, What made Judy Blume distance herself from her own biography? This week my colleague Elisabeth Egan delves into the back story of “Judy Blume: A Life,” by Mark Oppenheimer. The project began on a collaborative note; in 2022, Blume emailed Oppenheimer to say she was ready to talk about a biography and wanted to meet. “I wouldn’t have written the book otherwise,” Oppenheimer said in a recent interview. He described his conversations with Blume and her husband, George Cooper, as “meaningful, candid, thoughtful,” full of “on the record memories.” “It would have been an impoverished biography without that relationship,” he added. As he wrote and researched the biography, it was like “majoring in Judy Blume,” he said. He pored over her books, visited her childhood home and spoke to more than 100 people. But somewhere along the way, his rapport with Blume herself cooled. (Blume declined to comment for the article.) I suppose biography can be seen as a ruthless pursuit in terms of its loyalty to the facts above all. For a figure as prominent and beloved as Blume, let alone one known for blowing past taboo in her work, “if Mark didn’t show Judy’s flaws or humanity, it would be hard to feel invested,” said Molly Ringwald, a longtime fan of Blume’s work. “When you decide to write a biography, you don’t work for the subject. You work for the reader,” Oppenheimer said. See you on Friday. In other news
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Love this email? Forward to a friend. Want this email? Sign-up here. Have a suggestion for this email? Then send us a note at books@nytimes.com.
|
