2023-10-12 08:26:18
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 | Updated 10/12/2023 08:26h.
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Arantxa Urretabizkai (Donostia, 1947) received the news of the 2023 Basque Literature prize “with joy”. He explained in the press conference that he did the dance and everything, that is “discreetly, in the kitchen and with only one witness”. In this regard, he mentioned again that he had doubts before starting the novel, especially those related to “old age”. “Will I be able to write a neat novel at my age?” The work ‘The last house’ (Pamiela) has made it clear that yes. The jury, made up of Josu Jimenez, Idoia Carramiña, Ane Zapatero, Ane Labaka and Mikel Aierbe, was of the same opinion, highlighting “the unique formal features and aesthetic choices it offers” as well as “the risks taken in the perspective and narrative approach” in the resolution.
– You have given great importance to readers and groups of readers in your career. You received an award from them, both from the 111 Academy and from the buyer. Does the Euskadi Award complement the previous ones?
– I didn’t do that analysis, I just enjoyed it for now. But yes Without readers there is no literature, it is something else. What you write needs a reader to be literature. Writing is also a very solitary work and reading is also mostly a solitary affair. When these two solitudes come together, a miracle can be created and that’s what I’m looking for. When a reader takes one of your sentences as his own, that’s where he gets the reason, that’s where your work is justified.
– In the book ‘The last house’ you published a deep and elaborate reflection on old age. You have been publicly defending this criticism of society for a year and a half. What kind of response did you get?
– It’s strange because we want to age as a society, we don’t want to die. But we never want to become old Santa. I say to provoke that I am old, how old I am. I’m 76 years old, when the hell is one old if 76 isn’t. But every time I say it there is someone who says ‘no, no, no’. But this is not a permanent thing, when I was young the peak of life was adulthood, we were young people who were studying to become adults and sometimes we even pretended to be older, if we were to be taken seriously. Around 68 that paradigm changed and now the peak of life is youth and from then on it’s all downhill. That’s why we try so pathetically to play youth, one should always, all the time, look younger than what your ID says.
Related to the same topic
– As a society, active aging is proclaimed – take yoga classes, travel with immersion – but as you complain, the invitation to rest is also constant.
– Society dictates to you from a certain age, and I overcame it a long time ago, that you must relax. I have nothing against those who take that route and want to relax, great! But I don’t want to relax, I want to write. Society does not encourage you to do this, but to rest in a corner, in Benidorm or at your home, away from where decisions are made. Decisions are made by others – be it family, be it institutions – for your good. I often tell myself that I am not who I am, that I did not come to this world to teach. I’ve come to learn and I’m learning a way to grow old.
– The desire to continue learning can also be another way to grow old.
– That is one of the main changes, the old traditional model is over. He had learned everything that needed to be learned before, all the wisdom seemed to be there and he had to teach it. The expression of a new age is that many old people now want to learn and there are a lot of role models at all levels. You are not only there to teach, you are also there to learn. At least I have little to teach and much to learn. One advantage of old age is that you’ve had more time to learn, but that doesn’t make you knowledgeable, of course.
– Women with different patterns of aging are the protagonists of the book ‘The Last House’. You have said several times that it is a difficult task to explain to someone who has not read it. What can the reader find?
– It is a story, what happens, and the reflection is behind it. When I started, I knew only one thing: that it would happen as the story was told, every now and then there is a small flashback, but it is happening at the moment the reader is reading. It belongs to women who have certain goals in life, who go after them. Whether the goals are mine or not doesn’t matter. It is often emphasized that the reader looks for a mirror in what you write, but I don’t think so. I, as a reader, am not looking for my mirror, but for the opportunity to enter the lives of others.
– You said you want to continue learning, even writing?
– The first event will be that ‘The Last House’ will be translated into Spanish, with the Consonni publisher. It will be next year. I currently have a professional job that takes up all of my time, but I plan to continue writing as long as life allows me. I don’t have anything specific, a little bit because from time to time ideas come to me and I write them down, but I don’t have time to work on it.
– In the process of working, do you prefer to take notes and develop or sit down and work on everything?
– Occasionally some ideas arise, but it is true that sometimes I have sat in front of the computer without knowing where I am going. There are writers who have a map or a plan from beginning to end, but I’m not like that, I follow my instincts.
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