OŅEDERRA, Lourdes

(Donostia, 1958)

"My first formal, special and purposeful relationship with literature came about before I'd finished my studies in Spanish philology, when I wrote what would become the epilogue to Ramon Saizarbitoria's Ehun Metro (A Hundred Meters). Around the same I time met Saizarbitoria himself: him and the people who were part of his literary circle, the writers of the magazine Oh Euzkadi; and I am especially indebted to that time, that atmosphere, and to Ramon in particular for making me believe that I had to write. Also, before I completed my degree I started writing reviews for the magazine Ere, with Andu Lertxundi as my boss.

I don't know for sure when it happened, but I know that by the time I got my degree, in 1980, and went to the United States to do a masters in linguistics, it was entirely clear to me that I would not study any more literature; I had developed a terror of it by then. Studying literature, I felt, would extinguish whatever it was that since childhood had made me ceaselessly put things into words and words on paper. Since that time, I've dedicated my professional life to studying, researching and teaching phonology. In between, I've written for Egunkaria and Hika about contemporary issues such as our language and our political situation.

But through the cracks something else escapes, and when I sit down to work seriously with it, the stories come out. That is how, struggling over several long years, I wrote the novel ...Eta sugeak emakumeari esan zion (...And the Snake told the Woman; 1999). And since its success I've published the story Anderson andrearen kutixia (Mrs. Anderson's Longing, 2000), and have also been commissioned to write for several magazines.

Nowadays, my work in phonology is inescapably leading me to study the rhythms of the language, and that has had an intimate impact on the writing I was hoping to keep separate from my professional work."

(Oņederra, L., "Biography", in An Antology of Basque Short Stories, Center for Basque Studies - University of Nevada, 2004).


"In Lourdes Oņederra's stories, both in her novel Eta emakumeari sugeak esan zion (1999, And the Serpent Told the Woman) and in the story Mrs. Anderson's longing, it is a look that makes desire evident. Because the subject of Oņederra's short story is the desire of an aging woman, she mentions Doris Lessing's Love, Again at the beginning. Glances, short and interrupted sentences, repeated names and elements that mark the rhythm, sensual descriptions... these are the components of Oņederra's work, especially the measured prose that plays with silence, the gaps and breaks that seek the reader's participation."

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


"Nowadays, the novel is the genre with the most literary prestige and impact, and the one which profits publishing houses most. If one had to sum up the most relevant authors and tendencies at present, one could start by pointing out authors who adhere to a type of lyrical novel which first became popular in the 1970s. Among these authors I would highlight Arantza Urretabizkaia's Zergaitik, Panpox ("Why, Panpox?", 1979), an intimist text closely related to the "feminism of difference" of the 1970s; Lourdes Oņederra's Eta emakumeari sugeak esan zion ("And the Serpent Told the Woman", 2000); Laura Mintegi's Sisifo maite minez ("Sisyphus in Love", 2001); Juan Luis Zabala's Agur, Euzkadi ("Bye, Euzkadi", 2001), or Unai Elorriaga's 2002 Spanish Narrative Prize winner SP-rako Trenbidea ("A Streetcar to SP", 2002)."

((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 authoress:

Š Eta emakumeari sugeak esan zion: Erein