English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela – Txillardegi eta XX. mendeko eleberrigintza.webm

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Hello, hello, hello!

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It’s me again, 

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Ira, 

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Elbira...

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Come on, you know who I am by now.

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Today, I'll introduce another name 
that may ring a bell. 

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Well, not the name, 
but the nickname: 

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Txillardegi.

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I said nickname, 
not surname!

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Txillardegi actually had 
another name and surname:  

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Jose Luis Alvarez Enparantza.

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Did you really think that 
artistic names are something new?

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He was from the city of Donostia.

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He was born in the district
of Antiguo in 1929. 

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That was some time ago... 

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How long ago? I'll 
leave the maths to you.

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And you may think, 

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why  

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Txillardegi?

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What did he do?

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Maybe we should ask 
the opposite question! 

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What did Txillardegi NOT do?

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He did many things, 

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more than others would do 
in seven lifetimes!

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Linguist, politician, professor…

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He did a bit of everything, and he had 
a lot to say in all these fields. 

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But out of all his facets, 
we will highlight one today: 

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his career as a writer...

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But first off, 
a short statement. 

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Txillardegi played an important role in the creation 
of an unified standard for Basque language.

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He learned Basque 
on his own initiative,

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but that did not prevent him from 
initiating the first debates and proposals 

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establishing the foundations for the 
creation of a unified Basque form. 

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If you want to know more, 
search for the excellent

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documentary "Euskara batua zertan den" 
(‘What is the Basque standard’)
in EITB’s website Nahieran.

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But as I said before, I'm going to talk 
about his work as a novelist today, right?

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Ira, don’t beat around the bush!

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The truth is that, for 
many, Txillardegi's work 

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is a milestone in Basque literature. 

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He wrote the first modern novel 

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of Basque literature: 

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"Leturia's Hidden Diary". 

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He published it in 1957. 
He narrates the doubts and 

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concerns of the character 
called Joxeba Leturia, 

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through a diary written by the 
(main character) Joxeba himself.

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And why do we say it's 
the first modern novel? 

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Because for 
the first time, 

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a Basque novel echoed 
the literature that 

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was written in 
Europe at the time,

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both in subject matters

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and style.

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Sartre,

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Camus,

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Unamuno…

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Do they sound familiar to you? 

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That's the way 
Txillardegi went.

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In other words, 

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this novel completely broke with the 
trends followed by most Basque writers.

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Do you remember 

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where did the Costumbrismo 

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styled Txomin Agirre, 
Axular and other authors 

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set their works?

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Did anyone say 
"in a rural environment"? 

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You are completely right! 

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By constrast, 
Txillardegi prefers 

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urban settings, Paris, Brussels...

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What else? 

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The previous writers had a 
moralist and pious view, didn't they? 

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Txillardegi, on the other hand, 

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writes according to 
existentialism. 

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And you may wonder, 

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what on earth 
is existentialism?

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Well, it is something simpler 
than it looks. 

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In short,

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it means a trend that questions 
the very meaning of life.

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That's what the protagonist, 
Leturia, does all the time. 

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He asks himself, 
"What do I live for? 

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Am I free? 

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What should I do? 

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Does that happen to you too? 

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These three features, among others, 
make this work, a modern novel.

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"The Hidden Diary" of Leturia is therefore 
Txillardegi's best-known novel,

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but not the only one. 

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His second work took his 
existentialist outlook to the limit. 

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Make a good note, 

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its name is 
Peru Leartzako.

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He wrote two more novels. 

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Elsa Scheelen, 
set in Brussels; 

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and Haizeaz bestaldetik 
(‘From beyond the wind’), 
the most experimental of them all.

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Did you notice? 

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It looks like he was inclined to bring the names 
of the main characters over to the title, was't he?

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3 times, out of 4!

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Shortly, that's all I had 
to say about Txillardegi. 

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If you want to learn more 
about him, make a search! 

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Take a look at the Wikipedia, 
or documentaries made about him, 

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or why not, 

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his books!


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But hey,

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don’t go away, 
we're not done yet. 

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We said Txillardegi wrote the first 
modern novel, right? 

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But luckily, 

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he wasn't the only one. 

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Many others continued 
to widen the path he had opened. 

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They transitioned from existentialism 
to experimental literature.

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Among them, 

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I will bring up 
another prominent name: 

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Ramon Saizarbitoria.

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Saizarbitoria published 
the novel "Egunero hasten 

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delako" (‘Because It Begins 
Every Day’) 12 years after  

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Txillardegi's first novel,

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in 1969.

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Both in subject matter and form, 
it was a revolutionary novel.

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O, I didn't tell you! 

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Txillardegi died in 2012. 
Still while I'm telling you 

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this, Saizarbitoria 
keeps writing. 

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And he's had 
a prolific career. 

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To some extent, 

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Txillardegi and Saizarbitoria 
paved the way to  

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dozens of writers, such as 
Laura Mintegi, Andu Lertxundi, 

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Koldo Izagirre, Arantxa Urretabizkaia…

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Now yes, we're almost done. 

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But let's make 
a quick recap: 

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Txillardegi, a writer who brought Basque 
literature close to European trends: 

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existentialism, the city, 
new topics... 

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That's what he brought 
to Basque literature.

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I think we had enough for today, hadn't we? 

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More, next time!

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Meanwhile, stick to reading, 
and shake your neurons! 

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See you!