Strange Language – An Anthology of Basque Short Stories

A compilation of short stories from fourteen of today's best Basque writers, Strange Language provides an insight into modern Basque society and literature. It includes stories by Bernardo Atxaga, Lourdes Onederra, and Iban Zaldua, among others.
"Literature often flourishes like certain kinds of plants, between the cracks in walls that gardeners have forgotten to tend. It can spring from the oppressed, impoverished, ignored. An Anthology of Basque Short Stories . . . affords a glimpse of one such obscure and interesting literature. . . Curiously, all these stories explore loneliness. There is no indication that this similarity is intentional. Is it a revelation about the lives of contemporary Europeans? These 14 stories offer readers a treat from writers who speak a strange but beautifully expressive language." Mark Kurlansky Author of The Basque History of the World -- Publisher: Parthian Books
This is a superb selection of short stories by some of the finest contemporary writers in the Basque language, from Atxaga and Cano to Sarrionandia and Zaldua. Editor Mari Jose Olaziregi provides an excellent introduction and the translators (Kristin Addis, Margaret Jull Costa, Amaia Gabantxo, Elizabeth Macklin and Linda White) have produced flawless English prose that never once jars or stumbles. What strikes me most, perhaps, is the sheer vitality of the stories. Each of the writers provides a brief biography and, almost without exception, they say they have wanted to write since a very young age and are delighted and amazed to have realised that dream. They are also, of course, writing in an ancient but beleaguered language whose continued existence depends upon the enthusiasm and dedication of its speakers and writers – there are currently a mere 700,000 Basque speakers and just 300 authors writing in Basque, only eleven per cent of whom are women (who are well accounted for here, with three of the fourteen writers being women). Although so many writers and styles (realism, magic realism, fantasy, metafiction, the absurd) are represented in the anthology, Strange Language enjoys a powerful sense of cohesion and coherence. This might be partly because all the stories were originally published in the 1990s, but is also certainly a result of some common themes: loneliness and isolation, the power and fragility of love and human connectedness, the need for recognition and remembrance. The tautness of the collection echoes the consummate concision of the stories. As Harkaitz Cano writes, ‘tell a novelist to pack a suitcase and he’ll organise an entire move. Not the short story writer. He’ll only put in the bare essentials. When a short story unfolds, it fits on the kitchen floor like a map of the city.’ Strange Language presents contemporary short-story writing at its best and I cannot recommend it highly enough. -- Suzy Ceulan Hughes @ www.gwales.com