LAt times literature sees longer than reality, and knows how to anticipate it. Like this Mercy Street (Bollati Boringhieri), the new novel by Jennifer Haigh, bestselling author crowned by New York Times, bringing up the burning issue of abortiontells at the same time with wide angle and with deep zoom a lost humanity and an increasingly polarized America.
American writer Jennifer Haigh
And therefore, even before the American Supreme Court gave federal states the possibility of repealing termination of pregnancy, Claudia, the 43-year-old protagonist of Haigh’s new novel, went to the Mercy Street gynecological clinic in Boston every day.crossing the ranks of anti-abortion protests, and providing psychological assistance to women, sometimes very young girls, sometimes with drug problems, violence, ignorance or just carelessness, faced with the choice of whether or not to carry on an unwanted pregnancy.
Around her a varied series of characters, often marked by traumatic eventsfollowed with an almost cinematic eye, like Altman, in an intertwining of lives that returns our time with a skilful style, alternating between drama and comedy.
“Mercy Street” by Jennifer Haigh (Bollati Boringheri, pages 368, euro 20).
An extraordinary coincidence this novel right now. How was it born?
I started this book in 2015, prior to this political situation in the US. And it was born from my work experience right inside a clinic where women made an appointment for abortion and where I had the role of counselor. So before the appointment they had to talk to me and this gave me the chance to learn many reasons why a woman really needs to terminate the pregnancy. I was already in favor of abortion, but I did not know the urgency of this issue. There I understood it.
Were you surprised by the decision of the American court on this issue?
No, in reality this right has never been guaranteed in America.
Are the characters therefore inspired by this experience of yours? For example Claudia, the protagonist?
Claudia is exactly the counselor, unlike me not only for a period, but for her whole life. She was interested in telling how psychologically someone who receives insults and daily shouts like her, forced to pass through the ranks of the “pro life” every morning in front of the clinic.
Did your position also arise from a particular childhood, having herself born “unwanted”?
Claudia was born to a single mother when she was 17 and grew up in poverty in a caravan. Her mother took in foster care many other children, because to do this she received money, but often she had to take care of it. Certainly her position is due to her personal situation, but abortion is a personal issue. And in fact all the characters in the end adhere to an ideology starting from their own very strong experiences.
How are the male characters of the novel connoted in this sense?
Let’s take the case of Victor, who is in some way Claudia’s antagonist. He too comes from difficult situations, and was left and sentenced by a woman who was pregnant with him and who she then decided to have an abortion without her consent. So for him misogyny, the violence he feels seething, originates in the feeling of not being in control of the situation. And the violence in America is backed up by the fact that everyone can have weapons, as a story.
How does the female universe live this theme?
It is said that one in four women in America have terminated their pregnancy, yet there is still a lot of secrecy. Many think they have never known anyone she had an abortion, but it is really just because of this silence. The question of whether or not to have a child is central to everyone’s life, but your background matters a lot for the choice. Even now, with restrictions, rich people can find a way to go to a state where abortion is allowed, but the humblest people don’t have the same chance. In fact, the book also talks a lot about social classes and new racisms, which are all the more exacerbating with the post-pandemic economic conditions.
Despite the seriousness of the theme, his writing leaves room for a sense of humor. How did you find this measure?
I think there is something funny in everyone and that the role that a novelist has is precisely to show the many facets of a person. Especially in a time when everything is either black or white, showing the complexity of the human should be an invitation to reflect.
What is special about this book compared to its previous ones?
It was the hardest book for me and the most personal. I grew up in an extremely Catholic family, I studied in a Catholic school, and they always told me that abortion was evil. Sometimes I was afraid to work in that clinic and then to write this novel, I didn’t know how people close and not close would react. It was an act of courage.
And how did they react?
Many elderly people have written to me who had also aborted illegally and had never talked about this with anyone. It was very moving.
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