The shadow of the writer
Taking as an excuse the fate of the Basque children of the War of 36, the II. The novel is based on the World War and ends in 2011. Wars affect all characters, including the Belgian writer Robert Mussche, who gives life to the novel in the footsteps of his life.
Under the genius of docufiction, the characters’ adventures are mixed with historical data in passages that take different forms. But sometimes, I wonder if those historical marks don't get too far from the tone of the novel. There is, however, a passage in which they are perfectly combined, for example, in the description of the attack on the Cap Arcona penitentiary transatlantic.
The novel is sewn thanks to the information obtained by a story-researcher, although it is often disguised with an omniscient narrator. Likewise, the anonymous researcher takes the trace of Kirmen Uribe, especially in the third chapter, where, when asked about the reason for this story, he quotes the death of a friend and, in the end, recognizes that this friend is Aitzol Aramaio. At that moment, I felt that narrative coherence was broken, without the need for it, since the narrator-researcher justifies the existence of the novel itself.
In general, it reads at ease and empathizes easily with the characters. In this sense, we observe the usual naivety in the works of Uribe, although I was not entirely satisfied at the end of an attempt to balance it, claiming that Mussche’s political commitment adversely affects the lives of his wives.
On the other hand, the types of relationships between the characters give rise to reflection, especially those that feel but cannot be publicly expressed: The concerns that appear in Vic's daily life, the hidden feelings of Herman, the inevitable betrayal of Aline, etc. However, many of the relationships between the characters talk about cultural creation and, in this sense, the limits of authorship (to what extent is it ethical to use the reality of others for fiction?) and about translation (how much does the translation of creation have?) reflects in the novel.
In any case, the novel reflects on the consequences of past conflicts and the work of fiction is conceived as a space for dismissing the dead. In this effort against oblivion, however, I have been left with some absences, such as that of the protagonist and that of Karmentxu.
Tapas
Maite gurrutxaga
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