The images of writer Arantxa Urretabizkaia are intertwined with the novel zergatik panpox. This is what Iratxe Retolaza defends, who has studied his work in detail. The marriage has its basis: a milestone in the evolution of the Basque novel, it is the first novel in Euskera written by a woman and, moreover, modern. And it is still linked to the novel Zergatik panpox, which began to publish poetry, like that of the eve of San Pedro, in the collective book Euskal Literature 72 – Koldo Izagirre: “one of the few works that have remained unchanged since that book,” to the point of meriting a 20th-century poetry notebook. It is also linked to the novel Zergatik panpox, although it has other notable novels, not so much Saturn – a history of conventional love, without much grace – plus 3 Mary – a non-topical portrait of old age – but above all, the Red Book.

The narration is organized in two planes: on the one hand, the adventures of a woman who goes to Venezuela to find the children of a friend, who must be handed a red notebook written by her friend, and on the other hand, the passages written in that red notebook are included. And the evolution that the figure of the friend experiences in the woman while reading the notebook is very interesting, because it is clear that it is not just anybody, that she is an admired woman, that struggles for Euskal Herria, or that she is a Gudari for freedom. But in the end, doubt becomes what it was admiration. But what weighs the most is the survey of the location of the children brought by her husband seven years ago, the young woman's relationships with Caracas and with the people in the vicinity, the rumors that produce these new relationships. In short, I very much liked the empowerment of the woman shown in the novel, which breaks with the image of woman and woman, even mother, who has traditionally given the Basque literature, who is entrepreneurial, able to look in front of man, who critically looks at the family institution, “does not feel alone, but free”. Thus, the structural complexity of the previous novels, both in terms of the plot and the ideas that arise, is something that did not exist. Ibon Sarasola: “In this novel are the best pages of Arantxa.” I think Ibon was right.

The images of writer Arantxa Urretabizkaia are intertwined with the novel zergatik panpox. However, we would do well to merge other books with the figure of the writer of Arantxa Urretabizkaia. Soon the Red Notebook.