The Basque Country A Cultural History

by Woodworth, Paddy

• ISBN13: 9780195328004
• ISBN10: 0195328000
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Basque Country is a land of fascinating paradoxes and enigmas. Home to one of Europe's oldest peoples and most mysterious languages, with a living folklore rich in archaic rituals and dances, it also boasts a dynamic modern energy, with the reinvention of Bilbao creating a model for the twenty-first-century city. In The Basque Country, Paddy Woodworth takes us on a sweeping tour of this enchanting land. We discover a small territory which abounds in big contrasts, ranging from moist green valleys to semi-desert badlands, from snowy sierras to sandy beaches, from harsh industrial landscapes to bucolic beech woods. The book reveals how this often idyllic scenery forms the backdrop for a land of ancient and modern culture, where Basque poets still compose spontaneous stanzas in public contests and where strange age-old sports--rock lifting, goose decapitation--are still held at fiestas. Likewise, the region has made important contributions to modern culture, through novelists like Bernardo Atxaga, sculptors like Eduardo Chillida, painters like Zuluoaga, and cineastes like Julio Medem. And of course Bilbao's flagship museum, the Guggenheim, designed by Frank O. Gehry, may be the best work of architecture of the last century. Here then is a marvelous guide to the culture and landscape of one of the most intriguing places on Earth.

Author Biography

Paddy Woodworth has written about the Basque Country for thirty years, and is the author of Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL and Spanish Democracy, described by Paul Preston as "one of the best books ever published on post-Franco Spain."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Introduction: Land of Stone, Iron and Glass: Land of the Basques	p. xix
Ancient and Modern	p. xxv
Wherixe Are We, Exactly? And What Will We Call This Place?	p. 1
The Urban-Rural Divide	p. 6
A Short Version of a Long History: From the Stone Age to the Civil War	p. 13
Anthropology and the Skull of the Basque Ancestor	p. 15
A Stone-Age Language?	p. 18
Not One Nationalism, but Three	p. 21
The Basque Sense of Difference	p. 24
Sancho: The Greatest Basque Political Figure?	p. 26
Special Rights and the Ancestral Oak	p. 28
The Carlist Wars: The Basque Rift Deepens	p. 29
Sabino Arana: Inventor of Basque Nationalism	p. 32
The Civil War: The PNV Stands-Reluctantly-with the Republic	p. 35
A Nightwatchman in Navarre, a Conquistador in Bilbao	p. 36
Bai, Bai, Urdaibai: Cave Paintings, Painted Trees, Tree of Gernika	p. 39
Santimamine and Farua: Palaeolithic Paintings, Roman Smelters	p. 41
Txatxaramendi: The Fishing Industry Learns to Fly	p. 43
Mundaka: Surfers, Ecologists, a Left-handed Wave	p. 46
Oma's Enchanted Forest: A Threat to the Basque Nation?	p. 51
Gernika: Democracy, Bombs and Paradoxes	p. 55
The Fronton at the Heart of Life: The Power and Beauty of Pelota	p. 63
More Than a Game	p. 66
Lions, Foxes and Magic Moments	p. 70
Cinco Villas: Pio Baroja, Flying Mari, Sword Dances and Sorcery	p. 73
An Enemy in His Own Country?	p. 77
Plagiarizing his Native Place	p. 78
Etxalar: Witches, Pigeon Shoots and Carmen	p. 82
Lesaka: River Dancers in Little Venice	p. 87
Iganzi, Arantza: Healing Waters, Baserriak for BMWs	p. 91
Gastronomy: Some Answers to the Most Urgent Basque Question	p. 95
From Itziar to Washington and Back	p. 98
A Few Snacks in Asteasu	p. 101
Wow, Bilbao! The Transformation of a Tough City	p. 103
A City Built on Iron, Wood and Water	p. 107
From Ruin to Resurrection	p. 112
Washing the City's Face, Lifting its Citizens' Hearts	p. 116
Jokes on the Path to Spectacular Success	p. 117
We Ain 't Seen Nothing Yet...	p. 119
Re-imagining the River	p. 120
Dark Heart, Dying Mines	p. 122
The Passion Flower of Revolution	p. 126
Seven Streets	p. 129
The City of Iron Becomes the City of Titanium	p. 133
From the Labour to Music as a Labour of Love	p. 135
Saved from Extinction: The Alboka	p. 138
Obaba in Asteasu: The Basque Village as a Literary Universe	p. 141
Truths Wrapped in a Tissue of Fictions	p. 146
Putting Euskera on the Literary Map	p. 153
Serious Fun: Fiestas in Laguardia	p. 159
The Real Gods of the Fiesta	p. 163
A Spontaneous Chorus for the Virgin	p. 165
Don't Mention the War: The Dark Side of Basque-and Spanish-Politics	p. 171
A Fetish for Violence, a Fashion for Revolution	p. 175
The Death Squads of a Democratic State	p. 179
Socializing the Suffering: A Teenage Intifada	p. 183
Regarding ETA as a Higher Power	p. 184
Bay of Biscay: Whales, Belle Epoque, Decapitated Geese, Sexual Politics	p. 189
Lekeitio: Dancing on a Casket	p. 194
Getaria: The Aesthetics of an Egg	p. 198
Belle Epoque: Zarautz, Biarritz, San Sebastian	p. 200
Lekeitio II: Decapitating Geese	p. 204
Gender Wars: Hondarribia and Irun	p. 208
Navarre: Heartland or Hinterland?	p. 213
The Camino de Santiago: Piety and Pleasure	p. 218
Burguete to the Ebro: Hemingway's Hotel, a Magical Church, a Borgia's Tomb	p. 220
The Heart of Navarre: Olite, Artajona, Ujue, Galipienzo	p. 225
The Bardenas: Badlands Full of Life	p. 232
Mountain High: Pleasure, Penitence and Pagan Gods	p. 239
In Search of Sanctuary	p. 240
Iparralde: The Basques on the Other Side of the Mountains	p. 245
Symbols and Substance: Being Basque in Iparralde	p. 249
Petit Bayonne: Cosy Streets, Dirty War and a Fine Museum	p. 253
Biarritz and St.-Jean-de-Luz: Faded Glories, Pleasing Melancholy	p. 256
Biriatou and Sara: Calvinist Catholics and the Evils of Procrastination	p. 259
Bidarrai to Baigorri: Under the Mountains' Skirts	p. 264
At the End of the Basque World: Saint Engrace, Larrau, Migrating Raptors and a Tribute of Three Cows	p. 266
Afterword: The Reality of Magic, the Magic of Reality	p. 271
Further Reading	p. 277
Glossary	p. 281
Index of Names & Organizations	p. 285
Index of Places & Landmarks	p. 288
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