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January 15, 2010
Writing of loves, lives past
Bob Friedland’s stories are both strong and sentimental.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
He’s a widely published political commentator and his stories have been published in the United States, Canada, England and Japan, but Faded Love is Bob Friedland’s first book – and what an introduction. While he may write about loves past, there’s nothing faded about this collection of short fiction. In fact, with great vividness, Friedland recounts some gritty, touching, raunchy and humorous moments, albeit with some sadness.
Friedland, who practises human rights and administrative law in Vancouver, told the Independent that his inspiration for writing comes from life and the need to express his thoughts and feelings about it.
Born in New York City, Friedland said he “has been the sheriff of a judicial district; an investigator for the United States Treasury Department; a regional director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission; human rights advisor for Malaspina University-College; a two-term city councillor in Victoria ... and chief lawyer for a group of seven First Nations in the Interior of British Columbia.” He added that he’s also been “a cowboy, a roughneck [and] a university instructor.” This range of interests and sense of confidence is mirrored, it seems, in his personal life. At least, that’s what one imagines when reading Faded Love (Libros Libertad, 2010).
Many of the protagonists are lawyers, most have had many loves and experienced things not discussed in “polite society,” but they are gentlemen at the core. They don’t intentionally hurt others and, in fact, they are often the ones unloved or mistreated. They don’t shy away from reality, but stoically accept their fate.
In one story, “The Lost Knife,” the protagonist is accused by his first wife of not feeling anything for people. While contemplating whether the criticism is true, the protagonist also wonders, “I always thought that I felt too much, that inside there was always only pain. Who can you tell that to?”
When asked by the Independent how he found the courage to publish his stories – to share his feelings publicly with friends and strangers alike – Friedland said, “Lawyers and writers have to be fearless in defence of the truth, even when they are afraid. Maybe most when they are afraid. What would be the point of writing if we worried about our image and were afraid to tell the truth?”
He was clear that the stories aren’t biographical though.
“The stories are fictional,” he said. “Even the stories in which every word is true are fictional, in the sense that the order and meaning I have given them is a creative overlay imposed on a life, the true nature of which is chaotic and disorderly.”
Friedland depicts the precariousness of life right from the start, in the dedication of Faded Love: “For my grandparents, who had the courage to leave the Old World and save our family from destruction.”
“My grandparents, on both sides, emigrated from Minsk, where our families had lived for generations,” explained Friedland. “The woman in the cover photo, my father’s mother, traveled alone, during the war, with a two-year-old boy, across Russia on the railroad, to Vladivostok, then by boat to Yokohama, then another boat to San Francisco, then by railroad to New York. She spoke only Yiddish at the time. An amazing story, but not unique among our people.”
He said about his grandparents, “If they had not had the courage to get out of Minsk when they did, it is highly unlikely they would have survived the Holocaust, or I would have had a life.”
These facts provide more of a context for the parts of Faded Love in which there are some pretty harsh depictions of Jews.
“I have personally experienced antisemitism many times,” he said. “My mother always said, ‘If you forget you are a Jew, someone will be there to remind you.’ It was very true.
“Psychologically, it is easier to deny that we live in a world where a majority of people have always had a visceral and historic and genocidal hatred for us. But that denial is the greatest threat to our survival.”
It’s this head-on approach to life that comes through in Friedland’s writings and in his career choices: to be in politics, to defend human rights. When asked about whether his courage was learned or inherent, Friedland said, “Well, I think I was taught about politics and revolution from birth. My father was a diehard Bolshevik. His father was a Bolshevik. My mother’s father was a Menshevik. I came by my politics honestly. Having said that, as difficult and challenging situations arose, I found that when it came to fight or flight, I would not run. Maybe I was just too slow. It doesn’t mean that I was not afraid. I was often scared s...less.”
Friedland will read from Faded Love at two upcoming events. On Jan. 27, 7 p.m., the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation and the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library are hosting Friedland at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and on Feb. 1, 7 p.m., he will be at the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria. At both events, refreshments will be served. For the Vancouver event, RSVP to 604-261-5550; for Victoria, contact Leah Kobrossi at [email protected] or 250-884-2734.
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