Alicia Freilich (born March 15, 1939) is a Venezuelan writer, novelist, journalist and educator.[1]
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Born in Caracas, Alicia Freilich is the oldest of three girls born to Máximo Freilich and Rebeca (née Warszawska) Freilich, immigrants of Polish origin. She grew up in an orthodox Jewish home and attended Universidad Central de Venezuela, where she received a bachelor's degree in literature in 1969.[2]
Shortly after graduation, Freilich began her journalism career at El Nacional, working on a column about literature and reporting politics, with a focus on children and family issues, among other subjects. Interestingly, 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.[3]
Freilich spent 31 years at El Nacional, working under the direction of Arturo Uslar Pietri (1969–1978) and Ramón J. Velásquez (1982–2002). She also has published freelance articles in El Universal (1979–1981), Tal Cual (2006–2009), and Fundación Bigott publications (2005–2007).[4]
In addition, her interest in the media projected into the television atmosphere, when she hosted a cultural affairs program at Televisora Nacional from 1970 through 1971. Shortly after, she wrote a script based on the novel La Rebelión, published in 1946 by author Rómulo Gallegos, which was aired by Radio Caracas Televisión in 1972.[3]
As an active educator for more than four decades, Freilich has being capable of providing instruction at various levels in her discipline from elementary school to university, both in private and public education.[3]
Focusing on the diversity of her creative imagination, Freilich wrote Triálogo (1973), in which compares historical themes and subjects, such as Shakespeare's Shylock and the horrible consequences of a myth; traces the parallels between the life of Isaac Babel and other Russian exiles, such as Boris Pasternak and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; associated Shalom aleichem with Jewish humor, and studies of Italian writers Giorgio Bassani and Natalia Ginzburg.[4]
Through her first novel, 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 know work is Cláper (1987), which shows a deeper sense of belonging and family identity during a spiritual and physical journey to America in the early twentieth century.
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 and Rafael Caldera as well as Gonzalo Barrios, Luis Beltrán Prieto, Pompeyo Márquez and Jóvito Villalba, 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 (2004) and Aldemaro Romero (2008).
Freilich had two sisters, Miriam (born 1943) and Perla (1945–1972). She was married to Jaime Segal, a neurologist, in 1962, and was known as Alicia Freilich de Segal until their divorce in 2008. They had two sons, Ernesto and Ariel.
Ccurrently, 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.[5]
Books
Novels