The sea is the only path that brings you to the title of your new book. You're reading Sarrionandia, his sea. At the same boot, you say that he has a commitment and a fascination for the sea…

I remember the impression I had when I read Frozen Friend, which was that there were seas out there. In addition, in the writer’s imaginary, both in songs and in many known poems, there are always the shipwrecks, the port, the sea… From there I started my study and soon realized that others had already reached the sea of Joseba Sarrionandia before me. There are the articles and works of Iñaki Aldekoa or Aitzpea Azkorbebeitia. "I don't speak alone! I then told myself.

We see the sea from the shore. You say that he sees it from the sea.

I’m not going to give you a clear answer… I’ll tell you what Anari sings: “There is not enough water to leave, but not enough to survive.” I mean, if you want to fish a fish and keep it alive, you have to have enough water to live, but you can't leave enough water to escape. That is what happens with the images of the sea or the seas of Sarrionandia. If we were to say, "Naught, he's a prisoner, he's down in the fight," we'd take oxygen out of the fish, out of the poem. I would not like to outline anything, or I would like to be very careful, because it is precisely in all the work of Joseba Sarrionandia that there is a concern to depart from the words that have lost their meaning, from those that are infected and kidnapped: “It’s a wreck, a militant, a prisoner, fallen into the fight, separated from the struggle…” I cannot say that, I cannot close the text, especially because that imaginary has been created to spread the text! However, it is true that all these marine elements are concepts related to conflict. And the sea isn't just one, it's the seas, and every time the marine imaginary is different.

Is it not, therefore, the Glacial Friend the Sea that enters the Terrores’ woods?

Think it's not the same sea, let alone! The sea through the Terror Shelters is a sea full of adventures, cosmopolitan, epic, with romantic connotations like the Frozen Antarctic Friendly Sea, for example, is a desert sea, scientific, that life is not possible, is a sea that catches the boat route thanks to the verticality of the icebergs… Both seas very different. For example, there would be more similarity between the sea of the Terror Shelters and the Kalapor Sea.

Reading your book, we would say that the biographical elements are reflected in the work of Joseba Sarrionandia and in the seas…

Reflex, yes, but in a way full of pudors. Sarrionandia has a great modesty to show her biography naked. In this sense, it is nothing exhibitionist. On the other hand, in his works we read many gestures related to his biography, or his biography that we know, from the men who are escaping to those who cannot return home... In many moments we find parallels between his biography and his literary production.

On the other hand, Sarrionandia, as usual in the Pott band, suffers the “self-prohibition of talking about the self”.

And that's what Joseba Sarrionandia holds. Bernardo Atxaga said that at Pott's time they had the self-prohibition to talk about their self, that the life of oneself, the personal circumstances were not interesting. Other members of Pott have not followed this idea very closely, but Sarrionandia has. It is true that the modesty I have said before has been somewhat relieved as progress is made in the work of Sarrionandia, and that in the Frozen Friend perhaps his self appears more than ever, but yet it is very well hidden. Even in a frozen friend, the writer plays matriuska for her self to be diluted. For the rest, Sarrionandia maintains the core of his literary conception in its beginnings: his self is not interesting, he is more interested in the “gu”, although today it is a little strange.

It's very interesting to us. They have also told you that you should write your memory, or your autobiography…

We are interested in his biography… For there is his life, in his texts! It is true, however, that we have to look and find. Interesting life of Sarrionandia, no doubt! There is no doubt that we would be happy to read it, but I have the impression that by knowing or suspecting the literary criteria of Sarrionandia we will hardly be able to read his autobiography. I think I would write the neighbor more easily.

You have gone through the texts of Sarrionandia, you have made a very deep reading, and you have also looked at many elements that the reader sees go unnoticed. That is, paratextual elements: the skin, the back cover, the interior cover, the prologues, the livers…

They are also of great importance if the work of Sarrionandia is properly understood. It is the case of all writers: what we say, express or display outside the text is very important and affects the text itself. In the case of Sarrionandia, he will be the only author or author who has not published a book in the Basque Country. Among those who have such a rich work, we do not have it here. On the other hand, it has a very significant life. I believe that Sarrionandia uses these paratestual elements to accompany the book. They're also the voice of the writer, in that sense, to place the book in the book galaxy. These elements are numerous in his work and it is important to take care of them if you want to delve into his texts. In this I have tried to analyse the texts themselves, taking into account also the paratextual elements that are outside the text.

He also says that the writer wants to connect with the reader, wants to involve the reader in his work…

Not all writers do it... Most of all, Sarrionandia. I think that is very important in his work. Sarrionandia does not give the closed text, does not sell the full product: it allows the reader to take it from here to build the text together with the author. This gives great encouragement to the texts of Sarrionandia, a great game and the possibility of reaching many readers. He considers the reader as an active person, believes that he can contribute something to the text… This is not the case of all the writers, but Sarrionandia, on the contrary, makes a great effort to seek the complicity of the reader, can be seen in all the books, except at the beginning, but as he advances in the work, this desire or that will is very present. In the prologue of the book The discomfort of words also appears like this: the storytellers ask their listeners what they would think if someone offered them a chewed nut. And listeners say, "Bad!" And storytellers: “chewed only for children and in love, with shells for others”.

Sarrionandia is not only playing with himself, but also with the reader…

No doubt. It does not stop gesturing. You say that I have made a deep reading, but I would say that you do not have to make a deep reading: I think you can catch a lot of those gestures by making an empty reading. The most surprising thing for me is the link that exists between these gestures, which are not loose or hidden gestures, but we can read them here and there: in a text, in an interview… and those gestures will be followed by one another, which multiplies the power of the text…

Smart writer Sarrionandia…

And absolutely consistent. Since he began to write, his images have evolved a lot, but that evolution can be seen in a very evident way, it can be seen clearly, without pause, in a very natural way ... I have given great importance to the chronology of this investigation, that is, I have chronologically ordered the texts of Sarrionandia, I have put a magnifying glass in the field I wanted to investigate, but I have realized that there are many eyes that can be interpreted in that there are plenty of texts in that

You also write about whether his biography has done him well or badly…

The biographies of many writers stand out. Sarrionandia's is also very significant, because his biography really captures his literary works. The test is the Durango Fair. When something is published at that time, people take it with hope, arouse curiosity, gather the reader, sell a lot… As for sales, it helps, but it is not always like this: Euskadi Prize [2011, Moroak gara behelaino artean?] When they gave it to him, problems arose. When he was given the National Prize for Criticism in 2002 [2001, Frozen Friend] they also had to give explanations… For example, the book Frozen Friend, Critical Prize, is not translated into Spanish. In Spanish, I am not here before Mora… The editorial Hiru de Hondarribia translated it! The biography, therefore, has helped, but it has also harmed Sarrionandia, here but above all outside here. The editorial Pamiela made an exposition on the object of the book in Pamplona, so they forced her to withdraw some texts from Sarrionandia. When the editorial Pamiela wanted to make an exposition on the process of preparing the book in Pamplona [Making a book, 2014] her city council did not give permission, as there was a text from Sarrionandia. Always that controversy. Sometimes we will see the reader's prior attachment, the ideological, literary or loving attachment. In others, on the contrary, the previous rejection. It's by the two.

Despite being a writer who is not among us, Joseba Sarrionandia is here...

The ideal situation of the writer could be that his texts were in the hands of the reader without him. This is a reflection of the result of the writer's work, the result, the fruit. This shows that the work of Sarrionandia has many edges. I wish we were all a little more hidden!

Many researchers have analyzed the work of Sarrionandia: Aitzpea Azkorbebeitia, Iñaki Aldekoa, Jon Kortazar, Kirmen Uribe, Aiora Jaka, zu…

Many of us who wrote have had as a reference to Joseba Sarrionandia. Also the readers, of course! His work has reached many and in very different ways. For example, Mikel Laboa, Ruper Ordorika or Eñaut Elorrieta. The young woman has reached a group of people of different environments and ages. At the same time, Sarrionandia says very deep and very simple things. Your work has a lot of layers. Even if you grab one, don't lose any more strata, it's very rich.

The title he has given to the research on Sarrionandia: The sea is the only way…

This, in fact, serves to link up. The sea, after all, is linked to the struggle, and depending on the form that is taken at each time, the sea will take that form. “The struggle is the only way” has been the phrase we have travelled for many years and now “the sea is the only way”. That is what I can say without drowning the fish that I said earlier. Not much more.