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Introduction to Basque Literature by Eloy C. Placer The Basque Studies Program is adding, for its summer session at Ustaritz, an introductory course on Basque literature. This offering will complement the courses on the Basque Language and Culture which are presently available at the University of Nevada, Reno. The study of Basque literary works has the double objective of highlighting Basque esthetical values for enjoyment’s sake and interpreting literary expression to understand the thought of past generations. Any course on Basque literature cannot be limited in its coverage of works in the Basque language. Basque men of letters have frequently expressed themselves in Spanish and French. While purists may deplore this fact, Basque writers had reason to employ the national languages of Spain and France. Writers required an audience and to publish in Basque was to severely limit one’s public. A further reason for bypassing Euskera was the erroneous assumption by some writers that the Basque language was a poor vehicle for expressing literary phrasing and abstractions. We might note that other European languages lacked a literary tradition at the beginning of the Renaissance and that the humanists at the time engaged in bitter arguments over the functional literary values of their respective tongues. It was Martin Luther, by translating the Bible from Latin into German, who demonstrated the literary capacities of his native language. The vindication of the literary value of Basque, however, is a more recent development. Modern writers have demonstrated the literary flexibility of the language through their own writings and by translating into Basque such classics as the Iliad, works by Cervantes and Shakespeare, Longfellow’s Evangeline, etc. |
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