In a two-novel volume, author Huck Fairman delves into the inner lives of a group of friends.
By: Susan Van Dongen
TIMEOFF/MARK CZAJKOWSKI
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Princeton-based Huck Fairman’s novel is about a group of writers, artists, journalists and performers.
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Strories about crimes, questionable arrests and the ongoing tango between police and perpetrators fill newspapers and TV news daily. Just in the last week, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a case of police overreaction in South Philly, where an armed man high on "wet" marijuana laced with embalming fluid wouldn’t relinquish his weapon. Between 80 and 85 rounds were shot by seven officers, killing the man.
In St. Mary’s Bar, the first novel of Huck Fairman’s new two-book collection, Tales of the City (Xlibris, $28), a brutal arrest rocks the world of a group of friends. Writers, artists, journalists and performers gather once a week at the bar in a Soho version of the Algonquin Roundtable, mostly bantering and flirting, but not digging too deep.
One character, Errol, arrives to the group disturbed, reporting that shots had been fired in his apartment building and he saw his African-American neighbor being taken away by the police, naked. They try to pry through the blue wall the cops throw up, concerned for the man’s rights and safety, but to little avail.
What drives the story, however, is not the police incident but the way the carefully crafted characters each react to it. They leave the police station and go home to their own complicated lives, diverse socio-economic and ethnic groups and equally varied emotions. The inner dialogue of the players reveals the real artistry of Mr. Fairman’s writing.
The metaphor of snow, which runs through the novel, evokes the chill of human isolation, and we see the characters reaching out to each other for comfort and warmth. As disconnected as the individuals are, Mr. Fairman shows the web of connection as the story turns from each character’s point of view.
"(The police incident) was not based on any one thing, it’s an amalgam of things I read in the paper," says Mr. Fairman, seated in his tidy kitchen, overlooking the porch filled with bonsai trees he creates. "As you know if you read the paper, these things happen periodically. My initial premise was that this was a case of mistaken identity but the police go beyond that. After the bar, the characters go to the precinct to see if they can help this fellow, then they go home and that begins their stories, the delineation of their lives and how those lives intersect with this incident."
The second novel in Tales of the City is Slipshod Watchman, narrated in the voice of an actor, moving back and forth in time as a tragedy of love and loss unfolds. Both novels examine the limits of human connection.
A native of New York City who moved to Princeton as a child, Mr. Fairman came to writing after a long career as a filmmaker. He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1967 and joined VISTA, Volunteers In Service To America, like the Peace Corps, but working within the United States. Film courses at Columbia University followed, which led to a variety of jobs in the film business, including directing and producing documentaries for organizations such as the United Nations and Planned Parenthood. Mr. Fairman has also written a number of original screenplays, including Refuge, which he also directed. It aired on public television’s American Playhouse Series and other outlets in the U.S. and abroad. His first novel, Hymn (Xlibris, 2004), was set in the film industry.
Mr. Fairman shifted his attention to writing fiction partly because of the staggering financial concerns of filmmaking. Happily, he feels he can tell a story just as well through novels. He practices a disciplined schedule, writing daily, usually from morning to mid-afternoon.
St. Mary’s Bar is the first time he’s tried writing a novel with multiple perspectives, always challenging for an author.
"It’s quite a departure for me exploring and finding out their views, voices and inner lives," Mr. Fairman says. "My inspiration (to try this) comes from other authors, especially James Joyce and ‘Ulysses,’ his characters’ wanderings through Dublin. I also enjoy Annie Proulx and her characterizations. She has a wonderful ability to embrace the vernacular of where she’s writing about, whether it’s Newfoundland or Wyoming."
Underscoring the plot to St. Mary’s Bar is the way the sudden crisis puts a pall on the convivial weekly gathering. Reactions range from excuses and denial to anger.
One response that stands out comes from the character Vivian, a woman of Caribbean descent married to Terry, a white man. Rage surfaces immediately when she hears Errol’s story. She’s seen the looks people give a mixed race couple and is still steaming from the time she and her husband were profiled, stopped by the police without explanation.
A couple of the characters want to avoid feeling anything or getting involved, which points to how even friends can disconnect from each other in a crisis. As the group splits and the players go off into their private lives, they reflect on their bar companions, and not always in a positive way. Some begin to question why they even go to the group.
"They get along fine when they’re just telling their family and personal stories," Mr. Fairman says. "But I wanted to explore what happens when they actually have to confront making choices about what to do and who to support."
Tales of the City by Huck Fairman is available at Chestnut Tree Books in the Princeton Shopping Center, 301 North Harrison St., Princeton, (609) 279-2121; www.chestnuttreebooks.com, and through Xlibris: www.xlibris.com and other online venues. Mr. Fairman on the Web: www.huckfairman.com