Childbirth in literature
There is a very interesting blog post over at Guardian Books Online. It concerns how authors have portrayed childbirth in literature – the writer is about to find out for real and I can assure her that books and authors will be the last thing on her mind during this process.
Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Laurence Sterne’s Tristan Shandy, Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and a few others are examined.
I’m not going to offer my opinions on this subject because there are a number of mums nearby who will start glowering at me if I do. However, I’m sure it’s easier to write about childbirth than it is to do it.
one of the really interesting childbirths in lit I came across recently is Joy Williams’s “State of Grace.” the protagonists gives birth at a sorority pageant, trying really hard to think the baby away. a very powerful scene
The scene in the Handmaid’s Tale is very nightmarish indeed.