Gabriel Aresti Segurola (October 14, 1933 – June 5, 1975) was one of the most important writers and poets in the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

in the 20th century. He grew up in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, which was a Spanish-speaking environment. Although his father talked to his parents in Basque, as a child Gabriel did not have Basque as his mother-tongue. He was a self-taught student of the language, at the age of 21 he collaborated in some magazines. His literary career began with a work influenced by the symbolism, Maldan Behera (Downhill). His most important works are, however, Harri eta Herri (Stone and Country, 1964), Euskal Harria (The Basque Stone, 1968) and Harrizko Herri Hau (This Country of Stone, 1971), related to the social realism. He also cultivated other genres, like the novel, the short story and theatre. He was an excellent translator of Basque; he translated authors like

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

, T. S. Eliot and

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

. Critical and controversial, he published many articles, which brought him problems not only with Franco's regime but also with some of the mainstream Basque nationalism tendencies, because of his leftist ideas. Gabriel Aresti was one of the greatest inspirers of the modern culture in Basque language (though he always found sources in popular culture and daily talking, as opposed to the purists of the language). As a Member of the Academy of the Basque language, he defended the unified Basque language, which he also used before it was adopted by the academy in 1968. He founded the publishing house Lur, allowing new authors in the Basque language like Ramon Saizarbitoria, Arantxa Urretabizkaia or Xabier Lete to publish their first works.

References

External links

* Azurmendi, Joxe 1985
Aresti: sentsibilitate konkretu bat
'' Jakin'', 36: 5–30. * Azurmendi, Joxe 1991
Arestiren tintazko bataioaz
'' Jakin'', 62: 129–142. *
Poems of Gabriel Aresti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aresti, Gabriel 1933 births 1975 deaths Writers from Bilbao Basque-language writers Basque-language poets 20th-century Spanish poets