Is Childbirth a Taboo in Fiction?

Pamela Erens' new book Eleven Hours (Tin House Books, 2016) takes place entirely during one labor and delivery in an urban hospital. She wanted to write something she hadn't read before: a story which described childbirth as it really is.

Pamela Erens discussed how literature has glossed over childbirth: "If you read almost any novel in which childbirth takes place, you will find that the actual act has been deleted.”  

Birth stories may be missing from literature, Pamela contended, but they are exchanged in real life. "I think women love to tell birth stories just as men love to tell combat stories. They're amazing tales of what you've been through."

So why not used as material for writing? "I tried to think of good reasons it might be an underdeveloped area in fiction." She dismissed violence or a constrained setting (think of war stories or death bed narratives). "I think it comes down to the female genitals, and that people are still really uncomfortable with that."

There are some notable exceptions, stories which get childbirth right: Pamela mentioned Margret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.