Sign
I have taken with desire and fear the book written by Kristof and translated perfectly by Eskarne Mujika Gallastegui. I'm eager, because I have a famous writer and I like it; I'm afraid, because I can't measure the intensity of short books, although I can suspect -- and I'm right. In 50 pages I have made a deep and clear journey as I have been reading.
It's a book based on the author's life, written first person. It is a story of what has had to go into the desert on the occasion of the war in Hungary, and the narrative thread is the protagonist’s relationship with language, which intertwines the whole book: the need to read everything that was small, the habit of telling stories in childhood, poems written in adolescence, plays in the boarding school, the loss of his tongue in the desert, the imposition of other languages and the fine emotional impact. In addition, he reads them in a language other than his own.
We can find some examples that show this: "That I come to Switzerland, inevitably to a city where French is spoken, and that I have to face a language that is absolutely alien to me. That is when I start my struggle to dominate it, a long and rabid struggle that I keep my whole life" (page 25).
"How to explain, without offending him, that his people are for us only a desert, for the refugees" (page 41). Humans seek to be part of something, it's an important part of our being. And the protagonist has lost two things that make us feel part: the mother tongue and the people, the community.
The book covers a wide interval of his life, as it recalls passages from young to adult. The entire book is written in the present and is composed of short and concise sentences that give an intense and light rhythm. The anecdotes that count are very appropriate, as it generates images and sensations to the reader.
I wanted to look at the external structure and for that I looked at the index which chapter devotes more pages. This was my surprise. Each chapter consists of four pages. No more and no less. Another example of accurate and reflexive writing.
At Agota Kristof we can read other books in Basque: Yesterday, Berdin gave and the Great Notebook. A unique opportunity to continue enjoying his works, literature and words.
Under the asphalt, the flower
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Illustrations: Rocío Araya translation
of: Itziar Ulcerati
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