Jon Juaristi

Jon Juaristi Linacero (born in Bilbao in 1951) is a poet, essayist and Spanish translator in Castilian and Basque. At the moment he resides in Madrid.

Biography

Education and employment

A doctor in Romance philology, he studied at the University of Deusto and in Seville.

He has occupied the chair of Spanish Philology at the University of the Basque Country, the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at New York University, and has been titular professor of the Chair of Contemporary Thought of the Cañada Blanch Foundation at the University of Valencia. Juaristi also worked as a docent and researcher in Austin and at El Colegio de México. He directed the National Library of Spain from 2001 to 2004, and then left that position to direct the Cervantes Institute until the socialist triumph of March 14, 2004.

Early political activism

At the age of 16, spurred by the reading of Federico Krutwig´s "Vasconia", he entered in an incipient ETA [ [http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/magazine/2006/336/1141395427.html "Jon Juaristi", article at "El Mundo"] ] . He tried to link Carlist armed cells with ETA after the expulsion by the Franco regime of Carlos Hugo de Borbón Parma (a pretender to the Spanish throne) [ "Cambio de destino", autobiography, ISBN 8433296686, page 146.]

In 1974 he left political activity almost completely and dedicated himself to his academic career [ Article at "El Mundo" ] .

In 1980, he affiliated himself with the Communist Party of Spain during its process of unification with Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE), which would give rise to a new social-democratic group that actively rejected the violence. He left it in 1986, disappointed when EE disagreed with the socialists after the autonomic elections of 1986. In 1987 Juaristi joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) .Later, he declared in his memoirs that he did so spurred by the attack of the "Mendeku" group against the "Casa del Pueblo" (PSOE local chapter) in Portugalete. Several PSOE militants were burned to death in the attack. [ "Ibídem", page 364 ]

Current political activity

His critical voice against ethnicism and the invention and manipulation of myths, in particular on the part of Basque nationalism, has gained media visibility through numerous articles, essays, and speeches. Juaristi's stance against terrorism, and his support to the ETA victims, was further made visible by the formation of the "Foro Ermua" (Forum of Ermua, now a conservative anti-terrorism organization but with roots in basque left) in 1997. In the last decade he has been defined, in different interviews from mass media, as a “Spanish nationalist [ [http://www.laverdad.es/alicante/prensa/20070303/cultura_alicante/nacionalista-espanol-imperativos-eticos_20070303.html "Un «nacionalista español» con imperativos éticos"] ] .” At the end of 1999, after the ETA announcement of which it gave by finalized the truce, and noticed of the seriousness of the threats against hers, he decided to leave his position in the University and to leave the Basque Country definitively.

Juaristi converted to Judaism [ "Cambio de destino", pages 370-371] for reasons more personal than religious:

:"El judaísmo para mí no es exactamente una religión, sino más bien una visión ética del mundo" [ Article at "El Mundo" ]

:"Judaism is for me not exactly a religion, but rather an etical view of the world"

Juaristi dedicates a number of his articles to the criticism of antisemitism (and anti-Zionism, which he considers to be inherently antisemitic). He has also written in defense of Israel's right to be its own state.

Poetry

Juaristi's poetic voice is influenced by the Basque poet (and his great friend) Gabriel Aresti, and by the Basque-born, Spanish-writing writers Miguel de Unamuno and Blas de Otero—as well as by the irony of the poet and Anglo-American essayist W. H. Auden. His poetry frequently evokes the mood of the Bilbao of his childhood and youth, and its tone is disillusioned, bitter, urban and intelligent.

His works of poetry have been published as the following:

* "Diario de un poeta recién cansado" ("Diary of a poet recently tired") (1986).
* "Suma de varia intención" ("Amount of varying intention") (1987).
* "Arte de marear" ("Art to annoy") (1988).
* "Los paisajes domésticos" ("The domestic landscapes") (1992).
* "Mediodía" ("Noon") (1993).
* "Tiempo desapacible" ("Unpleasant time") (1996).
* "Poesía reunida" ("Reunited poetry") (1986-1999) (2001).
* "Prosas en verso" ("Prose in verse") (2002).

Essays

In Juaristi's essays analysis is a habitual subject, from a psychological and sociological perspective inspired by Carl Jung and Leon Polyakov, and the historical and mythical roots of European nationalism, particularly Basque nationalism. Philological references are found frequently in the texts, as well as references and anecdotes which deal with authors, subjects and works of occultism. These are usually mentioned with distance and irony.

*"Euskararen Ideologiak" (1976).
*"El linaje de Aitor. La invención de la tradición vasca" (1984).
*"Literatura vasca" (1987).
*"Arte en el País Vasco" (1987). Con Kosme M. de Barañano y Javier González de Durana.
*"Vicente de Arana" (1990).
*"Vestigios de Babel. Para una arqueología de los nacionalismos españoles" (1992).
*"Auto de Terminación: raza, nación y violencia en el País Vasco" (1994). Artículos: en colaboración con Juan Aranzadi y Patxo Unzueta.
*"La Europa (cultural) de los pueblos: voz y forma" (1994). En colaboración con otros autores.
*"El chimbo expiatorio (la invención de la tradición bilbaína, 1876-1939)" (1994).
*"El bucle melancólico. Historias de nacionalistas vascos" (1997).
*"Sacra nemesis. Nuevas historias de nacionalistas vascos" (1999).
*"Sermo humilis: poesía y poética" (1999).
*"El bosque originario" (2000).
*"La tribu atribulada. El Nacionalismo Vasco explicado a mi padre" (2002).
*"El reino del ocaso" (2004).

Autobiography

*"Cambio de destino" (2006) ISBN 8433296686

Prizes

* 1988: Ícaro de Literatura.
* 1997: Espasa de Ensayo por El bucle melancólico.
* 1998: XV Premio de Periodismo Francisco Cerecedo.
* 1998: Premio Nacional de Literatura por El bucle melancólico.
* 2000: Fastenrath.

References