The late Joxemiel Bidor continues to give much to talk, when it has been more than 10 years since his death. The Royal Academy of the Basque Language published last week one of the last jewels found on the hard drive given by the Pamplona investigator: Biography of Arturo Campión, written by José Ager. The protagonist of the book does not need major presentations, as it was one of the most important figures of Basque nationalism from the beginning of the twentieth century in Navarra. Agerre, on the other hand, is not so well known.
The explanations that Patxi Zabaleta offered along with German Sagrario about this book on the Euskaltzaindia website give a little light on this interesting character: “He was appointed a member of Euskaltzaindia in 1919, when Euskaltzaindia went from the top four to the twelve members. Therefore, Agerre was the second representative of Navarre after Campion,” explained Zabaleta. From 1931 he held important positions in the Navarre nationalist press – he directs the journal Amayur, as well as the newspaper La voz de Navarra – until the war of 1936 interrupted this trajectory. However, he did not stop writing, and in view of his post-war production, there is a striking thing: he began writing in Basque. Joxemiel Bidor was in charge of collecting the poems written by Agerre Santesteban from 1949 until his death in 1962. The post-war poetry works (1949-1962).
And now it is known that this book edited by the City Council of Pamplona was not the only gold that he found in Bidor. He also obtained the work Biography of Arturo Campión, edited by Euskaltzaindia, which was apparently written by Agerre without intention to publish, but as explained by Alemane, no less important. “This biography of Campión is very interesting because it is written by someone who met Campión. It gives us a direct but not very objective testimony, because Agerre admired Campión. Since then, they have written a lot about Campión, but not those who knew him alive.”
However, what will come into the hands of the reader will be the adapted version of Agerre's original text, the edition made by Bidadores. Zabaleta explained that the historian, who died in 2010, made a "profound change" to the original, as Ager told Campión that he had "too much admiration." Therefore, Bidor believed that he wrote Campion's hagiography more than biography and, following his critical sense, made arrangements and an introduction.
Jon Alonso and Patxi Larrion wrote in a text in four hands of Biker when he died. Thanks to the studies and discoveries known to him so far, such as the books Materials for a history of Basque literature in Navarre or Klasiko bitxiak, arront klasiko, readers can have a broader view of the history of Basque literature. Campión's recent biography will also provide an opportunity to learn about the new aspects of politics and Euskera.