Mythology and Ideology of the Basque Language (Basque Classics)

This small book on ideas about the nature and origin of the Basque language up to the early twentieth century is a highly erudite essay, even if the motivation for its composition was ultimately political. Its erudition is guaranteed by the professional credentials of its author, Antonio Tovar, one of twentieth-century Spain's most polymathic intellectuals and men of letters, at the same time that its reason for being was the fruit of his passionate political commitment, which originated in his early years and, modulated over the course of his life by criticism and experience, led him to take an interest in all aspects of public life, especially those related to culture. At the crucial moment of the book's composition, near the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, there was a need for actors with a sincere desire to understand the ideas and aspirations of the opposing sides, broad-minded and generous openness when it came to revising their own decades-old views, and perceptive intelligence for building connections with the proponents of other ideologies on the basis of shared humanist values. Tovar was one of these men.

Mythology and Ideology of the Basque Language

Reference

Tovar, Antonio

Words, Language & Grammar

Center for Basque Studies UV of Nevada, Reno

In A Book of the Basques, Rodney Gallop notes that, “one Englishman, and one alone, has lived long enough among the Basques to write with authority upon their character, customs and language: the Reverend Wentworth Webster.” Based on information that Webster collected from servants and other domestics in the closed world of the nineteenth-century Basque etxe (house, but with a meaning much more powerful and comprehensive than we expect from the English word), especially from Stephana Hirigaray, who he employed as a maid in the Basque Country. As a French Basque woman with rural roots, Stephana Hirigaray had more than stories to give to her employer. She had an insider’s knowledge of the culture in which those stories were embedded. Hirigaray belonged to a Basque moral community in which Basque master/servant relationships were notably equal. In rural Basque culture, servants ate at the same table as their employers, who considered them as members of the family. Thus, the master/servant relationship between Webster and Hirigaray is likely to have been influenced by that Basque emphasis on equality. First published in 1877, Basque Legends consists of more than forty-six stories (and variations thereof) that feature supernatural figures such as the Tartaro or Cyclops, the Seven-Headed Serpent, and Basque fairies known as lamiñak. In addition, Webster collected stories about witches and sorcery, animal tales (such as “Acheria, the Fox”), fairy tales, and religious tales. It also contains an original essay on the Basque language by Julien Vinson, an in-depth collection of Basque poetry, and a modern introduction by Sandra Ott.

Basque Legends: Collected, Chiefly, in the Labourd (Basque Classics)

History

Webster, Wentworth

World

"The story of the Basque immigrant Zelestina Urza and her life in the fictional town of Wolf, Wyoming"--

Zelestina in Outer Space

Romtvedt, David

Biographies & Memoirs

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