The Basque Country (pdf, 4,3Mb) - Kultura Saila - Euskadi.net

Pío Baroja.
56
Gabriel Celaya (left), his wife
Amparitxu, and Blas de Otero.
“Verdes valles, colinas rojas” by Ramiro Pinilla
takes readers on a journey through modern
Basque history following a series of family sagas.
Very knowledgeable in Euskara, he believed that it was destined
to become a dead language. Although a socialist and antinationalist,
he did not oppose Francoʼs National Uprising, but
he soon became critical of the regime for its repression and
contempt for ideas.
Pío Baroja was born in Donostia (1872-1956). A prolific and
excellent writer of novels, landscapes and histories, he left an
important mark on Spanish fiction dealing with Basque themes
(The House of Aizgorri, The Adventures of Shanti Andia...), the
Carlist wars (Memories of a Man of Action), tough urban life (The
Search) and more general subject matter (Tree of Knowledge).
From the 1950s to the 1970s the most influential authors in
Basque and Spanish literature were Gabriel Celaya (Hernani,
1911-Madrid, 1991) with his poetry about social issues and daily
life (La soledad cerrada, Las cosas como son...), and Blas de
Otero (Bilbao, 1917-Madrid, 1979), author of works including
Ángel fieramente humano and Pido la paz y la palabra.
Ángela Figuera (Bilbao, 1902-Madrid, 1984) wrote sensual
and socially-aware poetry with pieces such as Mujer de barro
and Vencida por el ángel; Juan Larrea (Bilbao, 1895-Argentina,
1980), a friend of Picasso, wrote a collection of poems called
Oscuro dominio (1935) and Visión celeste.
In novels we have J. A. Zunzunegui, member of the Royal
Academy of the Spanish Language (El barco de la muerte, Esta
oscura desbandada), Luis Martín Santos (Tiempo de silencio),
and Vitoria-born Ignacio Aldecoa (1925-1969) with novels such
as El fulgor y la sangre and Con el viento solano, the latter made
into a film.
Although born in Madrid (1926), Alfonso Sastre is Basque by
adoption and feels a profound commitment to the Basque Country,
just as the multi-faceted intellectual José Bergamín also did
toward the end of his life. Besides theatre, he has written various
essays from a leftist perspective. He also forged a friendship with
Marc Légasse (Las carabinas de Gastibeltza).
Writers born in the 1920s are Ramiro Pinilla (Las ciegas hormigas
and the recently republished Verdes valles, colinas rojas, winner
of the 2005 National Narrative Award); Navarra-born Pablo
Antoñana, the versatile Elías Amézaga, and José Miguel de
Azaola. Standing out among the writers born in the 30s and
40s are Raúl Guerra Garrido, who won the Nadal prize, and the
journalist and essayist Luciano Rincón (1932-1993) (Francisco
Franco, historia de un mesianismo, 1964).
New literature
Novelist Lucía Etxebarria (Bermeo, 1966) stands out for her fresh
and bold writing. She won the Nadal Prize for her book Beatriz y
los cuerpos celestes and the 2004 Planeta Prize for Un milagro
en equilibrio; Navarra-born novelist Miguel Sánchez Ostiz (Un
infierno en el jardín, El pasaje de la luna) is also known for his
essays (Derrotero de Baroja).
Other well-established authors include Juan Bas, Fernando
Aramburu (Los peces de la amargura, about the victims of
ETA), Juan Manuel de Prada, Pedro Ugarte, Fernando Marías,
Espido Freire, López Hidalgo and José Javier Abásolo. Toti
Martínez de Lecea has been very successful in cultivating the
historical novel genre and Seve Calleja works in young peopleʼs
fiction. Julia Otxoa, Jon Juaristi and Carlos Aurteneche are all
accomplished poets.
Writers in the French language include Florence Delay (Etxemendi)
and Itxaro Borda, one of the few cases of authors who publish in
both Euskara and French.
The Basque market is small but the number of people who
consume books is considerable. More than half of the population
are regular readers.
There are more than one hundred Basque publishing companies.
They capture about 30% of the market in Euskadi – a significant
part is books in Euskara and textbooks, while the rest of the
market is covered by publishers from other regions, especially
Catalunya and Madrid.
3,515 titles were published in 2005 – some 8 million copies – for
a turnover of 86.2 million euros according to the Publishers Guild
of Euskadi. In 1982 338 titles were published in Euskara; by 2005
the figure rose to 1,616 (46% of total), with 3.4 million copies, a
qualitative jump in twenty years.
The Basque Government provides significant subsidies for books
published in Euskara. In Navarre 1,020 titles were published in
Euskara in 2005, according to INE.