Ira Levin

Ira Levin did write more than just Rosemary’s Baby. It’s not even the only thing he’s written that people have heard of. You’ve doubtless heard of The Stepford Wives, and maybe The Boys From Brazil. Likely Deathtrap. No Time For Sergeants, maybe, though you’re likely just as surprised as I am to find out that he wrote it. Maybe the Broadway bomb Drat! The Cat! He did a lot of writing, and he was one of the writers Stephen King admired most for the strength of his plotting. But you know him for Rosemary’s Baby, and he knew that.

He wasn’t terribly happy about it, though. In 2002, he said to an interviewer for the LA Times, “I feel guilty that Rosemary’s Baby led to The Exorcist, The Omen. A whole generation has been exposed, has more belief in Satan. I don’t believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn’t been so many of these books . . . . Of course, I didn’t send back any of the royalty checks.” Roman Polanski must share some of the blame, of course; it’s much easier to blame Roman Polanski for things. But Rosemary was the first of the big Satanism works of the modern era, and we’ve talked about where Satanism went in popular culture.

Rosemary is, as Stephen King would tell you, a shaggy dog story. The whole of the book, in all its weirdness and Satanic goings-on, is just to lead up to the punchline at the end. The point is not to believe in Satan. The point is getting things up to the place where you can deliver that line. Now, it’s a tightly plotted, exquisitely written book up to that point, but if you don’t groan at least a little at that line (no, I’m not giving it away even though everyone knows what the story’s about), what are you even doing? You’re taking the whole thing too seriously.

Also, you’re focusing too much on Rosemary. Especially because you’ve probably only seen the movie, which while a faithful adaptation still manages to take away a lot of what makes Rosemary herself an interesting character. One of the things for which Levin doesn’t get enough credit is how well his female characters are written. Rosemary, sure, but also Joanna Eberhart and Kay Norris. Levin was not an enormously prolific man, having written a whopping seven novels in his life, but he deserves credit for giving female characters agency in 1967. (I have not myself read A Kiss Before Dying and can’t speak to its female characters.)

People don’t talk as much about how funny he was. Sure, okay, No Time For Sergeants. He also did screenwriting which included comedy. But I think what Levin did better than anyone has before or since is combine horror and comedy. Stephen King has his moments, but you can laugh out loud at an Ira Levin novel even when you know you’re going to lose sleep over it. Yes, watch the movies, but read his books if you want the real experience.