Well, here’s some good news for Stephen King: We no longer have to worry about the cruel, censorship-loving publishers of America trying to “muzzle” Woody Allen. As reported by The Wrap, an independent publisher called Arcade Publishing has quietly picked up and released Allen’s memoir Apropos Of Nothing after it was not-so-quietly picked up and then dropped by Hachette. That company faced protests from staff and a scathing criticism from Allen’s son Ronan Farrow, who had also worked with one of Hachette’s imprints to release his book Catch And Kill (which happens to be about powerful men of Hollywood silencing accusations of sexual misconduct). But Hachette wisely dropped the book, King said he was “uneasy” about it, and then we all moved on to other things.
Until today! The book is available now, with an Associated Press story giving a rundown of what to expect from Apropos Of Nothing—which is apparently a “candid and comprehensive personal account by Woody Allen of his life” that follows his “acclaimed career” and explores “his relationships with family and friends” (a line that very easily could’ve been rewritten, given the allegations against Allen). Speaking of, it touches on the allegations but denies any wrongdoing, going as far as to suggest that Mia Farrow invented the accusation that he sexually abused their daughter Dylan Farrow when she was a child as revenge for his relationship with with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
The book also has a new postscript from Allen where it sounds like he suggests Hachette was fully aware that there would be a backlash against publishing a book by a “menace to society” like Allen (that’s how he sarcastically describes himself), but it got scared off when it was actually forced to recognize what that meant. The AP story also has a statement from Arcade’s Jeannette Seaver, who argues that publishing the book is some noble effort to “give voice to a respected artist, rather than bow to those determined to silence him.” She also implies that the allegations against Allen are “fake news” (she used the phrase and everything) and… now we remember why this story seemed so exhausting earlier this month.