A book a day: Ira Levin: Rosemary’s Baby

Original language: English

Original title: Rosemary’s Baby

Year of publication: 1967

Translation: E. of Obregón

Valuation: highly recommended

First of all, I would like to explain why I have kept the original English title of this book in the review, even though it was long ago translated and published in Spanish. No, it is not because I have read it in English or pretend to have done so to give me clue… The reason is because, as many of those who read us will undoubtedly know, this best-seller by Ira Levin very soon had a wonderful film adaptation directed by Roman Polanski and also called, logically, Rosemary’s Baby… title that in Spain someone decided to change for another that represents a resounding spoiler for those who see the film for the first time… Not only that: when the book was published in Spanish, such a disastrous decision was maintained, which I do not intend to reproduce here. To begin with, not to contribute to spoiling anyone’s reading of the novel or watching the film, but also because it bothered me quite a bit, at the time, that they ruined the plot (by the way, many of the covers of the novel, even in English, they also “spoil”, in a more or less subtle way… I have put, to illustrate this novel, the one that I have found to be the most aseptic).

I don’t know if it’s even necessary to include a synopsis of the story, it’s so well known, but here it goes: Rosemary is a young Catholic from Nebraska who, along with her husband Guy, a promising actor, settles in the Bramford building. in the city of New York, an old but still distinguished building that has a certain reputation as the scene of mournful events. The young couple will establish a close relationship with some neighbors, especially with the Castevets, an almost elderly couple, and with their other friends, all also quite old. This friendship is more or less bearable for Rosemary, until she becomes pregnant and her attention begins to feel burdensome and even somewhat suffocating. She even begins to suspect that there is a plot to seize her future baby, a speculation no doubt caused by the hormonal dance in her body, due to her “interesting state” … or maybe No. And I won’t tell you more about the plot, little word of the Child Jesus…

The fact is that this story could have taken place in a Victorian mansion or a Californian Gothic-style house next to a motel, but Ira Levin, for his own comfort – and urgency, since he needed to get money as soon as possible, according to his own statements – preferred to set it in its own environment, contemporary New York (that is, almost 60 years ago), turning an apartment building into a place as threatening as Dracula’s castle and the New York customs of the 20th century in as exotic and superstitious as those of the locals of the Carpathians… What’s more, in fact, it is the perfect setting.

Now, being there is no doubt that this is a horror novel, with a psychological and disturbing section, let’s forget it for a moment; Let’s think, instead, that the main theme of this story is something else (although also terrifying, in a different way): what we have here is a woman, Rosemary, who tries to make her own decisions about something as intimate as her motherhood – and, before that, her sexuality – and a husband and a social environment – represented here by the neighbors and the doctor – that not only restrict her, but direct her behavior, by hook or by crook. What we are told, then, is Rosemary’s love for her independence of opinion, for her empowerment, even, using a term in vogue in recent times… I am not going to say that we are facing a feminist novel, nor do I think That was the main intention of its author, but, born in the middle of the Second Wave of feminism, today, when we are experiencing a new rise of this movement, it can be perfectly read as a metaphor for it (*) (It is curious, however, and sorry for the possible SPOILER, that in the face of the current claim of witches as predecessors of feminists, for the protagonist of the book the supposed threat came precisely from a witchcraft plot that she believed she perceived in her around).

In any case, regardless of the interpretation we give to this novel or even the unfortunate fact that its plot has been gutted with the unfortunate translation of the title, what is impossible not to delight in is the narrative skill of Ira Levin, that perfectly doses the appearance of disturbing elements and manages the growing suspense with firm subtlety. I don’t know if it is representative of how all the books were written at that time. best sellers (better not to compare with the current level, please), but I don’t know if this book can be considered a mere best-seller, even if it was born with that purpose, or a horror novel, without more, but, plain and simple. , literature, without further labels. And a good one, without a doubt.