中絶―生命をどう考えるか

by Roger Rosenblatt

In Life Itself, Roger Rosenblatt redefines the debate on abortion and offers a resolution.Through columns in leading publications and his on-air essays for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Rosenblatt has become widely recognized as America's preeminent commentator on social and moral issues. In this book, he turns to the most bitterly divisive social question of our time."Give abortion five seconds of thought and it quickly spirals down in the mind to the most basic questions about human life, to the mysteries of birth and our relationship with our souls," he writes. "It is difficult to disentangle, much less express, the feelings it engenders."Yet what we have seen in this country over the past twenty years has been the political warfare of extremists, not honest discussion among ordinary citizens with differing views.Life Itself attempts to establish an "uncommon ground" on abortion by using the deep ambivalence the great majority of Americans feel about the problem toward its resolution. We live in uncomfortable but manageable conflict on a number of important national issues, Rosenblatt writes. It is time to learn to live with conflicted feelings on abortion as well.To make his case, Rosenblatt traces the 4,000-year history of abortion, demonstrating that all civilizations have dealt with conflict on the issue, and have fashioned their resolutions to meet their particular structure and needs.Why then do Americans alone in history have so hard a time doing the same? Rosenblatt answers this provocative question by examining specific American characteristics of thought that have become particularly explosive when touched by abortion.Finally, through a series of interviews and speculations, Rosenblatt determines that the country is more united in its attitudes about abortion than the political warriors would have us believe. In the end, he presents a formula by which we may begin to recognize and live with one another on this matter in spite of, and within, our divided "To create a society in which abortion is permitted and its gravity appreciated is to create but another of the many useful frictions of a democracy. Such a society does not devalue life by allowing abortion; it takes life with utmost seriousness, and is, by the depth of its conflicts and the richness of its difficulties, a reflection of life itself."

Tankobon Hardcover

First published January 4, 1992

About the author

ROGER ROSENBLATT, whose work has been published in 14 languages, is the author of five New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and three Times bestsellers, including the memoirs KAYAK MORNING, THE BOY DETECTIVE, and MAKING TOAST, originally an essay in the New Yorker. His newest book is THE STORY I AM, a collection on writing and the writing life.

Rosenblatt has also written seven off-Broadway plays, notably the one-person Free Speech in America, that he performed at the American Place Theater, named one of the Times's "Ten Best Plays of 1991." Last spring at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, he performed and played piano in his play, Lives in the Basement, Does Nothing, which will go to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook, and the Flea Theater in New York in 2021. He also wrote the screenplay for his bestselling novel LAPHAM RISING, to star Frank Langella, Stockard Channing, and Bobby Cannavale, currently in production.

The Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at SUNY Stony Brook/Southampton, he formerly held the Briggs-Copeland appointment in creative writing at Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. Among his honors are two George Polk Awards; the Peabody, and the Emmy, for his essays at Time magazine and on PBS; a Fulbright to Ireland, where he played on the Irish International Basketball Team; seven honorary doctorates; the Kenyon Review Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement; and the President's Medal from the Chautauqua Institution for his body of work.