Bi anai

by Bernardo Atxaga

An elegiac tale of lost innocence and the ruthlessness of the natural world, where the hunter all too soon becomes the prey.As he dies leaving his two boys orphans, Paulo's father lays on him the duty to look after his retarded but overgrown younger brother, for otherwise Daniel will be put away in an institution. But Daniel never listens to his brother, who is unable to exert any authority over him. Instead Daniel, aged twenty and still in the throes of puberty, goes off in an inept, fumbling pursuit of the village girls, as these ride past on their bicycles on the way to sewing lessons or cake-baking classes.Among these girls are pretty Teresa and her plain friend, Carmen, a girl disfigured by a birthmark on one cheek. Both of them are sweet on Paulo, the quiet, irresolute but handsome lad who works in the family sawmill, while Teresa is the reluctant, indeed disgusted object of Daniel's dreams. Each girl schemes to cut the other out and win favour with Paulo. All ends in tears. And the narrators of this story, who take turns to continue the tale, are creatures of the wild, driven by their inner voices - a bird, squirrels, a black snake.

Genres: Fiction, Spanish Literature

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Bernardo Atxaga (Joseba Irazu Garmendia, Asteasu, Guipúzcoa, 1951) belongs to the young group of Basque writers that began publishing in his mother language, Euskara, in the Seventies. Graduated in Economics for the Bilbao University, he later studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona.

His first short story, Ziutateaz was published in 1976 and his first book of poetry Etiopia in 1978. Both works received the National Critics Prize for the best works in the Basque language.

He cultivates most genres: poetry, radio, cinema scriptwriting, theatre, children's books, articles, short stories... His national –and soon after international– recognition arrived with Obabakoak (1988) which, among other prizes, was awarded the National Literature Prize 1989 and that has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Many of his poems have also been translated into other languages and published by prestigious magazines such as Jahbuch der Lyrik, 1993, Die horen, 1995, Lichtungen, 1997 (Germany), Lyrikklubbss bibliotek, 1993 (Sweden), Vuelta, 1990 (Mexico), Linea d'ombra, 1992 (Italy) and others.

Reviews

[laya]

istorio polita
oso ausarta nire aldetik gipuzkoeraz irakurri izana

[Amaia Razkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andonik gomendatu zidan eta ezer gutxi jakinda hasi nuen. Argumentu sinplea oinarri hartuz Atxagak istorio unkigarria eraikitzen du. Katagorrien kapitulua bikaina da.

[cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for school. I found the contraposition of the fantastical story and the crude real story amazing. I quite liked the plot and the ending was cool, super open to different ways of interpretation which I always like yk? I did find it kind of offensive though…

[Andoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Istorio arrunt bezain sentikorra, narrazio trebea ongi txertatzea lortzen du Atxagak. Xehetasun gehiago sar litzazke, baino kontakizun printzipala ezabatzea izanen litzateke, eta erabat asmatu du idazleak modu hortara bi anaien arteko harremana eta besteekin duten harremana isladatzen, beste guzia istorioa leku eta momentu konkretu batean kokatzen lagunduz, besterik gabe.

[Joa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liburu hau pila bat gustatu zitzaidan. Oso istorio polita kontatzen du, gainera narratzaile bezala animalitxoak ditugu. Oso, oso, OSO ederra.

[Txusinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo leí hace mucho. Me gusto el enfoque de Atxaga, la historia los personajes

[irraatti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Txiko, Bernardo, ba igual geatu naiz

[haizea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️


saguak eta gizonak basque edition

[Iraultza · Rating 3 out of 5]

👁👄👁

[Naiaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

no entendia nada y cada vez que me ponia a leer era una tortura. no me habia pasado con ningún otro libro😫😫

[Clo Sevilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy tierno, muy duro

[PATRICE PRIVAT · Rating 3 out of 5]

ma première immersion dans la culture basque; très interessant et une histoire qui vous tient en haleine..Très bien écrit.

[Teala Danyel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book was great and very controversial if you look behind the value of reading it at face value. I believe that he is using the irony of the nature of mankind and how we are naturally cruel to bring to light the aspect of mistreating people. I personally didn't get the feeling that it was specifically directed towards women. I don't think it was offensive at all and was symbolizing the destruction of humankind as a whole by the cruelty of other humans.

[l · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's amazing that a book this short could be this offensive. It's as if Atxaga wondered, should I write a book that invokes hateful tropes about women (evil! jealous! irrational! scheming! destroyers of men!) or developmentally disabled people (bestial! lustful! monstrous!) and thought, damn, I can do both! One of those books that make you think, male writers need to stop.