One of those frustrating situations of having forgotten both the title of the novel, and the name of the author. I read and enjoyed this novel in the 1980s or 90s; written I believe not long before then, by – I think – an English-language author, well acquainted with and sympathetic to the Basque people. Novel tells of the lives and doings of a group of Basque young people in the Spanish Basque country, in the post-Franco era; with them being involved in the struggle for greater freedom for their folk, but in their case not engaging violently in same. Excellently written and very readable, and I’d like to revisit it; but as said, “neither the title nor the author…”
I recall there being quoted in the novel, a rather glum local saying: “All the hours shower blows on man; the last sends him to his tomb” – accompanied by rhyming couplet saying the same thing, in Basque. I had ideas of learning said couplet, to be able to quote it as the only bit of the Basque language that I knew; but failed actually to do that. I’d be most grateful if anyone were to recognise from the above, the work concerned, and let me know title / author name.
My thanks; but, it was neither of these. The novel definitely takes place in the Basque country, only. (I realise that what info I’m able to give, is very little indeed to go on !)
I recall that the “all the hours…” adage was, in the book, given in English, and then its Basque translation in a rhyming couplet, last word of which was “koilpatzen”. In the recent novel Guernica by Dave Boling – an IMO excellent work (which has rekindled my interest in things Basque) mention is made of a Basque-country church clock tower bearing an inscription of that adage, but in Latin – which has a property of putting things very tersely: Vulnerant omnes; ultima necat.
Hi, I got paged but have no idea (if the novel was indeed written in English it may not even have been published in Spain). But… do you remember any specific locations or character names? That might help.
Eusko Jaurlaritza (the Academy of the Basque Language) says that to hit/knock (golpear in Spanish) is kolpekatu (there are other words given but they are for the meaning of “to hit as during a fight”) and that koilpatzen is not in their list (I tried other endings, no luck); I looked up to bury (enterrar) and to kill (matar) and none of the terms even look like that. The only incidence of that particular word in the web appears to be this thread. So if the saying was translated from Basque originally, it’s probably a dialectal variation.
Nava – thanks. Unfortunately – and I know that all along, I’ve been basically asking people to make bricks without straw – I only remember that a good deal of the novel’s action was in Bilbao, but the principal characters didn’t actually live there, but in smaller, less-well-known places. I have the feeling that Pamplona featured a bit: but if I’m right, that city is outside the Basque area. (Very strong feeling that the author was an Anglophone bod, enthusiast for things Basque, but wrote the book in English and it was published in the “Anglosphere”.)
I might have mis-remembered “koilpatzen”; and / or the Basque tongue is indeed, I gather, not homogeneous ; and / or the author’s knowledge of Basque would probably have been minimal, and he may have butchered his attempted renderings of it. I have always got the picture that the Basque language – non-Indo-European, and seemingly unrelated to anything else still spoken in the world today – is dauntingly difficult for anyone for whom it is not a birth-speech, to learn. I’ve always liked the tale of the Basques ascribing their being a highly noble and virtuous folk, to the Devil’s having tried to learn their language, in order to tempt them; but it was too hard for him to learn.
The only book that I can remember reading that was set in the Basque Country was Obabakoak, by Basque author Bernardo Atxaga. I mention it because it was published at the right time (the English edition came out in 1992) and both the title and author would be difficult for an English-speaker to remember. Unfortunately what I remember of the content doesn’t match the OP’s description. I’ll paste in the book blurb just in case it rings a bell, though:
I’ve never read any of his books, but there was also a Basque-American writer named Robert Laxalt (best known for Sweet Promised Land) who wrote about Basque characters. It looks like most of his novels were set in the US, though.
The blurb about Obabakoak which you kindly furnish: no, the book I’m seeking for was about far less colourful material. It just concerned a group of young people trying to get on with their lives; with the situation in that area at the time, meaning their having to walk something of a tightrope between coping with not-good treatment by the Spanish central government, and avoiding getting involved with the violent wing of the Basque independence movement, despite threats / blandishments from those latter folks. And no, nothing by Laxalt as per your link, rings any bells for me.
Thanks for your suggestions, anyway. I realise that with so very little to go on, I’m undertaking / setting a most difficult task. I made my post in the (unreasonable !) hope of a very great stroke of luck.
Depends on your definitions. I don’t want to bore you, but the gist of it is:
Neither Navarre nor its capital Pamplona/Iruña are Euskadi (except according to independentists, but they can kiss Navarre’s collective ass, and those of all our forefathers from Aitor onwards). Euskadi is a word invented by the father of Basque nationalism, Sabino Arana, in the 19th century; it is also the official name of one of Spain’s Autonomous Regions.
But they are Euskal Herria, “the land of the Basque”, along with Euskadi and with parts of SW France. Pamplona is in the limit between Navarre’s bilingual and monolingual areas; Basque is rarely spoken in town, but you only have to go out of its immediate conurbation in any direction but south and it starts popping up all over. I live in a town 22km away, currently our town crier messages (given weekly over loudspeakers) go in Basque first, in Spanish second; when the other party is in power, it’s Spanish first, Basque second… but both languages in either case.
We just like complicating things, see the Devil’s linguistic troubles.
Re (my bolding): you said it first, so I can admit to having had the thought on reading your post – there came into my mind, a favourite saying of a Forrest Gump-type “wise fool” guy, whom I once knew: “ ‘Ere ! It’s all a bit com-li-cay-ed !”
All that aside – thanks for your info. I’d had a vague impression that Pamplona both sort-of “was, and wasn’t”; but with my having tended to associate it with Navarre, and with my atlas showing it as definitely in the territory of Navarra, not of País Vasco – I reckoned basically, “more wasn’t, than was”.
