An Imagined Autobiography From the Author of The House of God

June 03, 2008

Dr. Stephen Bergman

Before E.R. and Grey's Anatomy transformed doctors and interns into objects of public fascination, there was Samuel Shem's The House of God -- a dark, funny, emotionally and sexually frank novel about a group of interns at the titular hospital -- written by Dr. Stephen Bergman based on his experiences as an intern at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

Since its publication in 1978, The House of God has sold two million copies -- and its timeless, unflinching look at the people and emotions behind the business of medicine has ensured the book's continued status as a page-turner.

Bergman, who began using the pen name Samuel Shem out of consideration for his patients, has since written several other books, fiction and nonfiction, plus a play about the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, "Bill W. and Dr. Bob."

This month marks the publication of his latest novel, The Spirit of the Place, published by Kent State University Press, with support from the Literary Ventures Fund. It is also the 30-year anniversary of The House of God's debut.

The Spirit of the Place is set in Columbia, New York, a small upstate town on the Hudson River that will feel familiar to residents of, or visitors to, Hudson, New York.

"This book, I call a sort of imagined autobiography," said Bergman. "[The town] would be recognizable to anyone who lives there." The idea for The Spirit of the Place came to Bergman when he returned to Hudson in 1983 for a celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the town's founding. He saw friends from 30 years ago and "was spurred by [his] creative imagination to write this book."

As he wrote, Bergman put in hours of library-time, visited historic spots in Hudson, and reconnected with those old friends.

The Spirit of the Place, set in 1983, is indeed filled with descriptive detail -- but not too much that the flip-ahead urge arises. Bergman is skilled in using the town as a character, and the various settings for key scenes feel instrumental, but not intrusive.

Thus, it's easy for the reader to imagine the tree-lined streets, old buildings, and sparkling river that serve as a backdrop for the drama that results when, upon news of his mother's death, young Dr. Orville Rose returns to his hometown.

Orvy's emotional mixed bag -- fondness, disgust, restlessness, curiosity -- at encountering people from his past, from bullies to dear friends, will feel recognizable to anyone who has made the journey to a hometown long left behind (or anyone who's remained, and now must greet the weary traveler).

To add to the intrigue, Orvy is fresh from a divorce and a year of working abroad for Doctors Without Borders -- a very different life from the ones led by the family and neighbors he worked so hard to leave behind. He is shocked to learn that, although his mother bequeathed him a good deal of money, she attached one condition: He must live in her house, there in Hudson, a year and 13 days before he can collect it.

The plot continues to thicken, as Orvy encounters his childhood nemesis, his beloved mentor (the aging town doctor), and a woman who intrigues him intellectually and physically. Humor, politics, growing pains, and family dynamics are all part of the mix, to excellent effect.

It's not surprising, considering Bergman has worked as a psychiatrist for 35 years. The Harvard- and Oxford-educated author said, "When I went to Harvard Medical School, it was always with the intention that I'd learn to be a doctor and that would be my day job, while somehow I'd find a way to write."

When he became a psychiatrist, Bergman devoted his mornings to writing and scheduled his patients in the afternoon -- an often-challenging routine. "Sometimes it got tough when a story would keep going on my head when I was supposed to be listening. The hard part is when you get a good idea and can't write it down."

But Bergman's ability to help people while having the opportunity to experience all sorts of personalities and problems proved invaluable to his writing.

He said, "Psychiatry was really terrific for me ... I did learn about what makes people tick, and I also saw a ton of different kinds of people from the public as well as private sectors that I wouldn't have necessarily come across otherwise."

The decisions that Orvy and the other characters wrestle with do feel familiar, whether they're about forgiving past hurts or deciding if something (or someone) is worth fighting for.

It's just that sort of thing that gets Bergman excited about writing: "Those 'Hey, wait a second! Why am I doing this?' moments -- we all have those, and we go ahead and do things anyway. If enough of them pile up ... that's what gets my motor going."

Political issues have been on his mind in recent years, too, and they have informed Bergman's reading choices as well as some aspects of The Spirit of the Place. "I mostly read nonfiction now, about economics, hunger, you name it," he said. "This is such an incredibly political time, all the horrible eight years of Bush.

"The Spirit of the Place has a very strong underpinning of the politics of that time, the start of a huge shift in the country from what was a more public-spirited place to the start of the Reagan revolution. It's felt in this town, and in medicine, in 1983 and 1984."

Politics aside, though, Bergman said The Spirit of the Place is about something more fundamental: "I think it's a book about basic human issues. It's a journey of the spirit in terms of going back to your roots."

He added, "One of the easiest things to do as a writer is to take a good situation and tear it all down, a straight line down to something awful.... I think what's a lot harder is to show you the climb out of that, how some characters grow and are redeemed. I believe novels are about that."

Bergman said this positive outlook on human nature is drawn from his personal and professional experiences over the last few decades. "It comes from being a doctor, a person, an author, familiar with AA -- people do grow, they really do. It's astonishing -- they can go through things in the most horrible ways and come out better."

The author/doctor/playwright will be sharing that hopeful message at upcoming appearances and events, including a reading/signing at The Hudson Opera House on June 14, and a symposium at the Cleveland Clinic in October. --Linda M. Castellitto

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