The story books
Those related to the Basque Country occupy a predominant place in the windows of numerous bookstores, with an assiduous readership. One finds there a past always present, with the history of the villages, the traditions, or still of the German occupation: literature on fishing or whaling, of the pepper of Espelette or still of the small history of the French Basque people. Great "signatures" have written about and in the Basque Country such as Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac and in love with Cambo-les-Bains where he built a sumptuous Basque house with a large park, or Francis Jammes, poet, novelist, playwright and critic who spent most of his life in Bearn and the Basque Country. Let's not forget Pierre Loti who, after having travelled the oceans, ended his days in the Basque Country with a masterpiece, Ramuntcho, in which he highlights the territory. Let's emphasize the efforts of the many publishing houses in the region, particularly active in promoting Basque literature, Atlantica, Elkar, Kilika, Artza, among others, and thematic bookstores such as Koegui, the most Basque, Gribouille the most geeky, Hirigoyen, one of the friendliest, the bookstore in the street of the Slope in Bayonne, the5th art in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the most British, Bookstore, in Biarritz.
The comic strip
It is also honored in the bins. See Whales by Javier de Isusi,the mystery of the Rhune by Denis Echegoyen, the humorous dictionary and Fafa and Ciboulette in the Basque Country by the publisher La Geste, Patxi Babel by Dargaud... It is a profusion of publications for young and old.
The Basque Country as seen by the authors
Here is how some of our famous authors evoke this so particular territory.
One of our greatest writers, Victor Hugo, speaks of it best: "I add that here a secret and deep bond that nothing has been able to break unites, (...) even in spite of the Pyrenees, those natural borders, all members of the mysterious Basque family. We are born Basque, we speak Basque, we live Basque and we die Basque. The Basque language is a homeland, I almost said a religion... " Or again "At the seaside when one sleeps, everything caresses and lulls the ear... one hears, through one's dreams, the distant songs of the sailors."
He will evoke Biarritz in these words: " Soon Biarritz will put ramps to its dunes, stairs to its precipices, kiosks to its rocks, benches to its caves. Then, Biarritz will no longer be Biarritz; it will be something discolored and bastard.. "
Francis Marmande said: " Like very rare cities that we do not choose, Bayonne arouses a passionate feeling...". In a more contemporary vein, Frédéric Beigbeder, who now lives in Guéthary, said: " In the Basque Country, the sun is a rare commodity: we wait for it, the priest prays at Sunday mass for it to arrive, we talk about it incessantly, we rush to the Hundred Steps or to the Plancha as soon as it appears..." or " Formentera is Corsica without the bombs, Ibiza without the nightclubs, Mosquito without Mick Jagger, Capri without Hervé Vilard, the Basque Country without rain ".
Théophile Gautier speaks of Urrugne, Paul Eluard of Guernika, and also Rabelais in 1542 of the Basque Discourse of Pantagruel(book II, chapter IX). As for the indefatigable Ernest Hemingway, who for his passion for bullfighting and bulls, will travel from 1923 to the Spanish or French Basque Country to attend the férias of Pamplona and Bayonne
Basque proverbs in literary memory
open your door to happiness, and wait for misfortune to come" - "Satiety often brings famine" - "Stand with God, God will be with you" - "The more porous the wood, the more the worm sinks into it" - "There is no life in this world without pain" - "You can't make a crow into a vulture" - "The best advocate for the wolf is the one who is the best lawyer, the more porous the wood, the more the worm sinks into it" - "There is no life in this world without pain" - "You can't make a vulture out of a crow" - "The best advocate of the wolf is himself" - "By wanting to have everything, you lose everything"..
