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Sept. 23, 2011
Gangsters in Middle Eastside
Narvey’s metaphorical novel is full of violence and Yiddishisms.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
It begins in 1894: “It was a long way down from the roof to the street. Felix’s crew had Alfred cornered up there. It wasn’t looking good for the Yid.
“‘I didn’t do it,’ Alfred protested. ‘You got it all wrong.’ He was backed up against the ledge. Five of them had him surrounded.
“Six storeys down. That height wouldn’t just break bones. They’d be scraping him off the sidewalk.
“‘If you didn’t do it, why’d you run, Yid?’ Felix demanded. ‘We know you sold out to the other gang. We got the proof.’
“Alfred didn’t see the point in trying to reason with this lot.
“He’d run out because he’d seen Felix heading his way with his trusty steel bat in his hand. Plus, Felix had threatened to kill him a few minutes before that. Alfred didn’t have a gun, or enough bullets to deal with all of Felix’s minions even if he was packing. So the running was actually the easiest part to understand.
“Perhaps a more aggressive approach would yield results. ‘Proof? You got [less than nothing],’ Alfred yelled at them at the top of his lungs. ‘Henry’s got it in for me. He’s telling lies. And you’re a fool to believe him.’
“In fact, Henry was the thug who had actually sold out to the other gang. This unknown fact would not help Alfred on the roof, though.”
It would not be giving much away to say that Alfred doesn’t meet a pleasant end in Jonathon Narvey’s A History of the Middle Eastside, a not-at-all-veiled metaphor for the real struggles of the Jewish people from the time of the (Alfred) Dreyfus Affair, which forms the book’s prologue, to the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, the book’s epilogue. Within, there are three sections, simply labeled by the years – 1948, 1956 and 1967 – which were, as Jewish Independent readers know, the establishment of the state of Israel, the Sinai Campaign and the Six Day War, respectively. Five fictional boroughs (i.e. New York) represent Israel and the other major players in the peace process (though, as in the real-life situation, there is no peace in this novel) and several of the various gang bosses and killers have the relevant symbolic name, such as Nasser and Washington, for example.
Explained Narvey to the Independent, “Two clichés I’ve often heard when discussing the politics of the Middle East, whether in formal surroundings or over pints at the pub: ‘It’s a rough neighborhood’ and ‘It’s complicated.’ So I ran with that: ‘What if I write a novel that breaks down the 20th century of the region into a simple parable of street gangs stabbing each other over turf?’
“I thought back to Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. I was also reading Michael Chabon’s incredible novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. I thought that writing in that style, with the story set in a surreal world of gangsters and the underworld, might be both entertaining and also accessible for a mainstream audience.”
He added, “If you like a rip-roaring tale of action, it works straight up as a pulp fiction gangster novel. If you’ve already got a pretty thorough grounding in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and world diplomacy in the 20th century, or want to learn a bit more about it, it works on a deeper level as well. I like the idea that it can educate, though from what I’ve heard from some of my readers, it can also feed into preexisting biases. It is what you make of it.”
A History of the Middle Eastside is rife with violence, sex and Yiddishisms. It could be described, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction meets Alex Kliner’s Menschenings. Indeed, when asked by the Independent whether he had considered publishing his novel in graphic form, Narvey responded, “Graphic novel? That would be great. But what I’d really like to see is a big-budget Hollywood movie release. A movie about gangsters spouting Yiddish slang and going toe-to-toe with their rivals in blazing gunfights? What’s not to like?”
A Vancouver-based communications specialist and freelance writer, Narvey has contributed to various print and online media, such as the Vancouver Sun, National Post, BC Business and other publications, including the Jewish Independent. In his articles and blogs, he covers a breadth of topics, from politics to the environment, technology to life on the West Coast.
“I’ve always been a writer,” said Narvey, who was born and grew up in Winnipeg. “I got a degree in political science and a diploma in print journalism. I still write the odd magazine feature or news article, but I shifted to corporate copywriting as the print media industry retrenched.
“I only began seriously tapping into creative writing more recently, as my political ideas began to mature. I’ll often write op-eds in blogs and online magazines. Today, I am the editor and publisher of The Propagandist, an online magazine for ‘thinking conservatives and brass-knuckles socialists.’
“One particular topic that comes up in my writing is political Zionism. The Jewish experience in the 20th century and the founding of the modern Jewish state is a fascinating, deeply tragic, yet ultimately inspiring story of triumph against overwhelming odds.”
Such optimism is hard to find in A History of the Middle Eastside, where none of the characters – Jewish, Arab, American or anything else – seems to have any redeeming characteristics, and where merciless men dominate.
“As in most gangster tales, the women face a tough lot,” admitted Narvey. “This is particularly rough in the fictional city I’ve created, where gangs rule the streets and no one has ever heard of such a thing as a policeman. It’s not quite a Clockwork Orange type of place, but it’s not far off. The women who get by are either resourceful enablers of their men’s activities or power-grasping opportunists in their own right. I’m thinking of the character of Justine, who rises from gangster moll to gun-runner and, ultimately, to the leader of one of the gangs.”
So, what is Narvey’s view of the real situation from which he created his metaphorical world?
“The characters in the Middle Eastside exist in a very brutal world where criminality and psychotic behavior is rewarded,” he said. “To the extent that they have any higher ethics or morality, it is a testament to their ability to remain human in horrific circumstances. That means even the ‘heroes’ in the story are deeply flawed and dangerous people. But at least the main protagonists are motivated by something other than mere survival.
“Am I cynical? I don’t see peace in the Middle East breaking out anytime in the future. Conflict management is what it’s about now, and has been for some time. There’s no happy ending in the book. But at least you know they’re going to keep fighting. There’s still life.”
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