Alicia Freilich (born 15 March 1939) is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n writer, novelist, journalist and educator.

Early life

Born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Alicia Freilich is the eldest of three girls born to Máximo Freilich and Rebeca (née Warszawska) Freilich, immigrants of

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

origin. She grew up in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

home and attended

Universidad Central de Venezuela Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, where she received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in literature in 1960.

Professional career

Freilich began her journalism career at '' El Nacional'' in 1969, working since then on a column about literature and reporting politics, with a focus on children and family issues, among other subjects. She gravitated toward stories that featured real-life struggles of ordinary people, with profile articles that have garnered national feature-writing awards and international honors.The Scroll and the Cross In between, she worked under the direction of

Arturo Uslar Pietri Arturo Uslar Pietri (16 May 1906 in Caracas – 26 February 2001) was a Venezuelan intellectual, historian, writer, television producer, and politician. Life Born on 16 May 1906 in Caracas, Venezuela, his parents were generalSantos Himiob ( ...

(1969–1978) and

Ramón J. Velásquez Ramón or Ramon may refer to: People Given name *Ramón (footballer, born 1950), Brazilian footballer * Ramón (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian footballer * Ramón (footballer, born 1988), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Br ...

(1982–2002). Freilich also has published freelance articles in '' El Universal'' (1979–1981), ''

Tal Cual ''Tal Cual'' is a Venezuelan newspaper. It was launched in 2000, with Teodoro Petkoff as editor. It has been described as a leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social eq ...

'' (2006–2009), and Fundación Bigott publications (2005–2007).Encuentro y alteridad In addition, her interest in the media projected into the television atmosphere, when she hosted a cultural affairs program at

Televisora Nacional Televisora Nacional was the first television station (Government-owned corporation, state-owned) to begin operations in Venezuela. It began broadcasting in 1952, making Venezuela the Timeline of the introduction of television in countries, ninth c ...

from 1970 through 1971. Shortly after, she wrote a script based on the novel '' La Rebelión'', published in 1946 by author

Rómulo Gallegos Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. In 1948, he became the first freely elected President of Venezuela, president in Venezuela's history. He was removed from ...

, which was aired by

Radio Caracas Televisión Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV and sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas) is a Venezuelan over-the-top streaming service and formerly a free-to-air television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo and ow ...

in 1972.The Scroll and the Cross As an active educator for more than four decades, Freilich has been capable of providing instruction at various levels in her discipline from elementary school to university, both in private and public education.The Scroll and the Cross Focusing on the diversity of her creative imagination, Freilich wrote ''Triálogo'' (1973), in which she compares historical themes and subjects, such as

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Shylock Shylock () is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Merchant of Venice'' ( 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal villain. His defeat and forced conversion to Christianity form the climax ...

'' and the horrible consequences of a myth; traces the parallels between the life of

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

and other

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

exiles, such as

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...

and

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

; associated

Shalom aleichem ''Shalom aleichem'' (; , ) is a greeting in the Hebrew language. When someone is greeted with these words, the appropriate response is (, ). The term is plural, but is still used when addressing one person. This form of greeting is traditio ...

with Jewish humor, and studies of Italian writers

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (Bologna, 4 March 1916 – Rome, 13 April 2000) was an Italians, Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where h ...

and

Natalia Ginzburg Natalia Ginzburg (, ; ; 14 July 1916 – 7 October 1991) was an Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, and philosophy. She wrote novels, short stories and essays, f ...

.Encuentro y alteridad Through her essay ''Cuarta Dimensión'' (1975), she points out how the critic must understand and make them understand the book she has read, as you can read writers. And that is – simple and beautiful – the task that the author does. Her best known work is ''Cláper'' (1987), a novel which shows a deeper sense of belonging and family identity during a spiritual and physical journey of a Jewish immigrant to America in the early twentieth century, which starts in Poland and includes stops in Paris, Cuba and the United States before landing in Venezuela. Through the years, this novel has had six editions, five in Spanish and one in English. In addition, her book ''La Venedemocracia'' (1978) is a compendium of interviews with some relevant political figures of Venezuelan contemporary history and their analysis, including former presidents

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from and again from Second presidency of Rómulo ...

and

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( ; 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009) was a Venezuelan politician and academician who was the 46th and 51st president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999, thus becoming the longest se ...

as well as Gonzalo Barrios, Luis Beltrán Prieto, Pompeyo Márquez and

Jóvito Villalba Jóvito Villalba Gutiérrez (March 23, 1908 – July 8, 1989), was a Venezuelan lawyer and politician, member of the Generation of 1928, founder of the party Unión Republicana Democrática, URD (''Democratic Republican Union'') and signer o ...

, among others. Thirty years later it has now been reissued for the third time (2008). She has also written two biographies on well known musicians as

Ilan Chester Ilan Chester (born Ilan Czenstochowski) is a Venezuelan musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel in 1952, to Ashkenazi parents, Ilan emigrated to Venezuela in 1953. Biography 2010 award winning Latin Gr ...

(2004) and

Aldemaro Romero Aldemaro Romero (March 12, 1928 – September 15, 2007) was a Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State. Biography Romero was a prolific composer, creating a wide range of music, su ...

(2008).

Private life

Freilich had two sisters, Miriam (born 1943) and Perla (1945–1972). She was married to Jaime Segal, a

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

, in 1962, and was known as Alicia Freilich de Segal until their divorce in 1998. They had two sons, Ernesto and Ariel. Currently, Freilich is an independent education and learning consultant who works across education settings in Venezuela. Besides this, she offer her opinion on art, film, literature, music, and politics in the blog ''Ideas de Babel''. Her son Ariel Segal is a writer and scholar associated with the Buber Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Ben Gurion Institute of Israel; has also taught at the university level in Lima, Peru. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), correspondent in Israel.

Selected works

Books *''Cuarta Dimensión'' *''En clave sexymental: Aldemaro Romero a medio siglo creativo'' *''Entrevistados en carne y hueso'' *''Ilan Chester es verdad'' *''La Venedemocracia'' *''Legítima defensa'' *''Triálogo, Notas de crítica urgente'' Novels *''Cláper'' *''Colombina Descubierta'' *''Vieja Verde (Traducida al Inglés)'' ''Vieja verde'' – Alicia Freilich. Publisher: Edited by demand, Caracas, 2000. Format: Paperback, 155 pp. Language: Spanish.

References

External links