New York magazine has an excerpt from literary agent and former crack addict Bill Clegg‘s forthcoming memoir, Portrait of an Addict As a Young Man. As expected, it’s quite wild…. with Clegg skulking around Newark Airport, all the while expecting to be arrested for possession. In the excerpt Clegg also details his break with his business partner Sarah Burnes, with whom he founded a boutique literary agency, Burnes & Clegg, in 2001. The pair represented Nicole Krauss and Susan Choi, among others, before splitting apart.  Clegg’s simple account of how it ended:

Before getting in the car, I send Kate an e-mail telling her to do what she needs to do, that I’ve relapsed and that she should protect herself in whatever way is necessary. Before I press SEND, I look out the window at the thick flakes of snow coming down in slow motion between the buildings and think I am doing her a favor. Giving her permission to get out and move on. But I feel next to nothing as I end our partnership, our business, my career. I regard that nothing the same way you observe a cut on your finger just after accidentally slicing it with a knife but seconds before the blood appears. For a moment it’s like looking at someone else’s finger, as if the cut you made has not broken your skin, the blood about to flow not your own.