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October 16, 2009
Tale of the Depression
Rhea Tregebov will discuss her novel at festival.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Rhea Tregebov's maternal grandparents almost returned to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, while a distant cousin was arrested and found guilty of treason in a 1950 show trial during Stalin's reign of terror. These two elements of family history find imaginative voice in Tregebov's debut novel, The Knife Sharpener's Bell (Coteau Books, 2009), and historical fiction will be one of the topics Tregebov takes on at this year's Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, which takes place Oct. 18-25.
Tregebov was born in Saskatoon and raised in Winnipeg. Not only is she the award-winning author of six collections of poetry, but she has edited 10 anthologies and written five children's picture books as well. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia.
In the press material accompanying the September release of The Knife Sharpener's Bell, Tregebov writes, "I made the transition from poet to novelist because a plot seized me by the throat." And the fictional account of what may have happened if her grandfather had been given permission from the Soviet Union to return there in 1935 will grip readers, though perhaps not by the throat.
The book follows 10-year-old protagonist Annette Gershon from Depression-era Winnipeg to communist Odessa, when her parents decide to return home to avoid the economic hardship and anti-Semitism they experience in capitalist Canada. While Annette yearns for Winnipeg, her parents, at least initially, are ecstatic about the move, but, as the Second World War progresses, the situation worsens and the final years of Joseph Stalin's reign bring Annette and her family even more tragedy.
The first-person narrative is compelling, though at times it is hard to follow the numerous family connections and the jumps from past to present. The story is related by an aged Annette – now back in Canada – reflecting on her life from 1932 to 1954 and Tregebov manages to evoke the historical settings as if she, too, had lived them. With poetic expertise, Tregebov creates powerful imagery and generates many thought-provoking moments about such human concerns as the nature of memory and the effect of landscape on our lives.
Tregebov will join other poets in the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival's Friday, Oct. 23, 2:30 p.m., Mini Poetry Bash, and Dig Deep, a Saturday, Oct. 24, 10:30 a.m., panel discussion on the research-imagination balance when writing stories based in historical times or in particular settings. Both events take place at the Waterfront Theatre.
Festival ticket prices and event locations vary, though most activities take place on Granville Island. For tickets, visit vancouvertix.com. For more information, visit writersfest.bc.ca.
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