Biscayan writer in the Basque language (Euskara). Born in Durango on April 13, 1958.
He studied Basque philology at the University of Deusto. He taught at UNED in Bergara and at UEU. In 1977 he began collaborating with Zeruko Argia and Anaitasuna, where he was a member of the editorial board. He also collaborates with Jakin and belongs to the literary group Pott.
In 1980 he was sentenced to 27 years in prison for membership in ETA. He was imprisoned 1980 and 1985, the year he managed to escape from Martutene prison (San Sebastián), hidden inside a loudspeaker belonging to the musician Imanol Larzabal, who had come to the penitentiary to give a recital. From then on, for more than three decades, he lived in hiding and in exile, a period during which he produced an intense body of literary work, establishing himself as a key figure in contemporary Basque literature. He reappeared in 2016 in Havana and returned in 2021 to his hometown in Bizkaia.
Sarrionandia quickly became a well-known and widely recognized writer. He has worked in almost every literary genre.
Books of essays and brief reflections: Ni ez naiz hemengoa (Pamiela, 1985), Marginalia (Elkar, 1988), Ez gara geure baitakoak (Pamiela, 1989), Han izanik hona naiz (Elkar, 1992), Hitzen ondoeza (Txalaparta, 1997), Akordatzen (Txalaparta, 2004), Idazlea zeu zara, irakurtzen duzulako (Xangorin, 2010), and Moroak gara behelaino artean? (Pamiela, 2010). The latter was chosen in 2011 as the Euskadi Prize for Essay.
Children’s stories: Izeba Mariasunen ipuinak (Elkar, 1989), Ainhoari gutunak (Elkar, 1990), Harrapatutako txorien hegalak (Baigorri argitaletxea, 2005), and Munduko zazpi herrialdetako ipuinak (Pamiela, 2008).
Narrative fiction for adults: Narrazioak (Elkar, 1983), Atabala eta euria (Pamiela, 1986. Critics’ Prize) and Ifar aldeko orduak (Elkar, 1990), Miopeak, bizikletak eta beste langabetu batzuk (Erein, 1995), Lagun izoztua (Elkar, 2001. Critics’ Prize), Kolosala izango da (Txalaparta, 2003), Gau ilunekoak (Elkar, 2008).
Very short story collections: Ez gara geure baitakoak (Pamiela, 1989), Han izanik hona naiz (Elkar, 1992), and Miopea, bizikletak eta beste langabetu batzuk (1999).
He has also translated a book of poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Marinel zaharraren balada, Pamiela, 1995) and another by the Portuguese poet Manuel Bandeira (Manuel Bandeira. Antologia. Pamiela, 1999).
For many years he translated various Galician poets, such as Manoel Antonio, Luis Amado Carballo, Alberto Cunqueiro, Aquilino Iglesias Alvariño, Celso Emilio Ferreiro, Luis Seoane, and Manuel María. He also translated Haurren gurutzada, by Marcel Schwob.
His first poetry book was Izuen gordelekuetan barrena (Resurrección María de Azkue Prize, 1980; Bilbo Aurrezki Kutxa, 1981). The book had a strong impact, and many new writers have said it influenced them. The first poem in the book, Bitakora kaiera, was taken as a kind of manifesto by quite a few writers. After escaping from prison, and always from clandestinity, he published the poetry books Gartzelako poemak (Susa, 1992), which gathered his prison poetry, and Hnuy Illa Nyha Majah Yahoo (Elkar, 1995), with poems written 1985 and 1995. He also published a personal anthology titled Marinel zaharrak (Elkar, 1987) and two books of translated poems by many authors he admires: Izkiriaturik aurkitu ditudan ene poemak (1985) and Hezurrezko xirulak (1991).
Summarizing the study of Sarrionandia’s poetry by Iñaki Aldekoa (Historia de la literatura vasca, UNED, 2000), it can be said that Izuen gordelekuetan barrena follows the most archetypal travel pattern, with a Ulysses sailing through different European cities and countries—Paris, Lisbon, Greece, Ireland, and Prague—and finally into exile. Aldekoa writes:
“This exile, which is the traveler’s fate and paradox, is both the invitation to travel and its negation: it is the journey to nowhere.”
On another level, the poet scrutinizes the magical places of modern European literature, and we can find echoes of Conrad, Kafka, T. S. Eliot, and Dylan Thomas—and above all of these three authors, Sarrionandia’s favorites: Kavafis, W. Holan, and Pessoa.
The next poetry book, Marinel zaharrak, is the author’s best in this genre according to Aldekoa, even though it had less success than Izuen, which is highly valued for its cosmopolitanism and aestheticism. Marinel zaharrak took a very different path, moving into social criticism. According to Koldo Izagirre and Xabier Mendiguren Elizegi (Euskal literaturaren antologia, Elkarlanean–Gipuzkoako Ikastolen Elkartea, 1998), in this second collection Sarrionandia stops writing a literature based on books and moves toward a more vital one. Later, when he published the poems written in prison in Gartzelako poemak, he surprised the public by the scarce presence of prison-related themes—though there were some—and by the strong resonance of poems such as Preso egon denaren gogoa. Subsequently he published very varied poems, some of which reflect on poetry itself.
In 1999, the publisher Txalaparta released a book-disc (titled Hau da ene ondasun guzia) offering numerous songs with poems by this author, among others performed by Mikel Laboa, Ruper Ordorika, Mikel Errazkin, Imanol Larzabal, Fermin Muguruza, and the group Oskorri. Sarrionandia’s lyrics have been used for pop or rock songs as well as reggae. The publication was notable for also including some poems recited by the poet himself.
Another major genre cultivated by Sarrionandia is the short story, and together with Atxaga he has been the main force behind the development and success of the short story in Basque literature from the 1980s onward. Narrazioak (1983), for example, contained stories set in very different times and places, with strong doses of exoticism and magical elements.
According to the scholar Iñaki Aldekoa (Mendebaldea eta narraziogintza, Erein, 98), in Narrazioak Sarrionandia developed a maritime iconography that “has its roots in the transgressive adventures of Melville and Coleridge.” Aldekoa believes that in that book the author also offers examples of “lyrical narrative,” especially in the case of the story Estazioko begiradak.
One of the people who has studied this author’s narrative work most extensively is Aitzpea Azkorbebeitia, with her book Joseba Sarrionandia: irakurketa proposamen bat (Labayru, 1998). In her article “Joseba Sarrionandiaren narratiba eta prosa-lanak: irakurketarako gonbitea” (in the book Azken aldiko euskal narratiba, Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea, 2001), she says:
“at the beginning of his narratives, Sarrionandia often sets up games, and the endings are striking as well.”
According to this scholar, many endings return to the beginning of the story, so the tales take on a circular structure. In addition, the reader often feels that the narratives have multiple readings, multiple meanings.
“The texts may strike us as ambiguous, and sometimes dark. Each reader will have to give them their own interpretation. (…) Since he offers us texts full of implications, we are forced to rethink what the texts say.”
In Azkorbebeitia’s view, this writer’s texts a blending of the tradition “from here” with those of other places. Echoes of writers such as Eliot, Kavafis, and J. Swift are frequent, as are echoes of other Basque writers, for example Mirande and Etxepare.
His first two short-story books contained stories set in an indeterminate time and space. The 1990 book Ifar aldeko orduak, by contrast, presented a defined space, even if the time frame was distant.
“In that case,” says Azkorbebeitia, “it can be said that in his narratives Sarrionandia turns his back on the surrounding reality. (…) Beneath that stance there is a dissident.” She believes that “in this way the writer fights to avoid being absorbed by the civilization of spectacle, and that by turning his back he manages to escape the reality he wants to criticize.”