MONTOIA, Xabier

(1955 - )

"Not the singer, but the song. I too find the song more interesting than who sings it. By the same token, in literature, the lives of the writers matter little to me. What's more, I believe that far from helping their work in some way, the writer's life stories mystify and muddy it. (Maybe that explains why editors are so given to publishing them.) Who cares about the likes and obsessions of the author of the book you hold in your hands, his sex, race or age? As a reader, I find such information a hindrace. There are more than enough intermediaries between the text and the reader as it is. The only thing all this information about the author seems to accomplish is to make us read with prejudice, according to our aesthetic, ideological or personal phobias. So here I will limit myself to saying that, since I started publishing in the early 1980s, I have produced three collections of poetry, three books of short stories, a sort of musical travelogue, and five novels. As the bard said, the rest is silence. " (Xabier Montoia)

"Xabier Montoia turns to the past in his book Gasteizko hondartzak (1997, The Beaches of Gasteiz). Though in his last two novels, this author also revisits the different moments and epochs of our history, Montoia's narrative goal is not to bear historical witness. The characteristics of dirty realism also appear in his collection of stories Emakume biboteduna (1992, The Mustachioed Woman), for example, in which he presents sharp and realistic stories based on love or the lack of love, and which are echoed in the provocative nature of M. Duchamp's painting on the cover. The stories in Baina bihotzak dio (2002, But the Heart Says), on the other hand, focus on homesickness for the Basque Country but, above and beyond this, Montoia offers us the chance to see the world through the eyes of his believable characters. Credibility and intensity are conspicuous in the story we chose for this anthology, Black as coal. This, the first of the twenty-two short stories of Gasteizko hondartzak, opens in the town of Gasteiz (Vitoria) at the end of the 1960s. The history of the city passes before our eyes as the backdrop to the lively cast of characters who appear and disappear from story to story."

(Olaziregi, M.J., "Foreword", in An Anthology of Basque Short Stories, University of Nevada - Center for Basque Studies, Reno, 2004).

"Although the publication of poetic works has declined since the 1990s, new interesting voices have joined the literary world in the last few years. Ricardo Diaz de Heredia (Kartografia ("Cartography", 1998)), Miren Agur Meabe (Azalaren Kodea ("The Code of the Skin", 2000)) and Kirmen Uribe (Bitartean heldu eskutik ("In the Meantime Hold My Hand", 2001)) are but a few examples. In addition, the group of writers associated with the magazine Susa and writing more breakaway, underground poetry - Izagirre, Aranbarri, Nabarro, Montoia, Otamendi and Borda - has grown, and now includes the new voices of Olasagarre (Bizi Puskak ("Pieces of Life", 1995)), Cano (Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran ("There's Someone at the Fire Escape", 2001) and Jon Benito.

As for the narrative genre, which has gained popularity in the last few decades, I would like to point out that the proliferation of literary magazines during the 1980s also contributed to the development of the modern Basque short story. Collections such as Joseba Sarrionandia's Narrazioak (1983), or Bernardo Atxaga's excellent Obabakoak (1988), transported Basque readers to imaginary worlds that had never before been visited in the Basque language. The modern short story further progressed with the publication of Inazio Mujika Iraola's Azukre belazeetan ("On the Sugar Fields", 1987, a collection influenced by the work of Juan Rulfo), and with the gritty realism of Xabier Montoia's work."

(Olaziregi, M.J., "A Brief Introduction to Basque Literature", in Waking the Hedgehog. The Literary Universe of Bernardo Atxaga, Center for Basque Studies, 2005).

Further information about the author:

To see the author's translated works, go to the List of Translations from Basque of this website.
The website of EIE (Basque writers' association).
Literaturaren zubitegia, in the website of "armiarma".
You can consult the website of the publishing house Susa where, among other informatios, you will find some poems by Montoia translated into English by Kristin Addis.