The Obsessions of Terror: Literary Motifs
Résumé
The aim of this communication is to explore the most frequented common places by Basque literature that deal with the issue of armed conflicts in the Basque context, conflicts that are a central and constant element in many representations of aberria or Heimat. Many obsessions with terror in the context of Basque literature are closely related to the search for and explanation of both the root of the conflict and the reason for its continuation and derivation, especially linked to ETA’s terrorism for national liberation and the Basque Heimat. There are certain literary motives that have worked as recurrent themes when writing the literary "story" of the cultural memory that touches the political-armed conflict, including the following three points: the search for the origins that trigger terror; the woman-mother as victim and/or perpetrator of the terrorist legacy; and, finally, the collectivization of guilt and socialization of responsibilities, which transform the chain into a network of links. The narrative that is articulated through these nuclei is not homogeneous, nor do its more constant approaches lack interferences, and it is this dialectic that is intended to be examined through multiple genre literary texts, written at different periods and by different Basque canonical authors, such as A. Urretabizkia’s The red Notebook, B. Atxaga’s The Accordionist's son, J. Muñoz’s Antzararen bidea, R. Saizarbitoria’s Martutene, K. Agirre’s Atertu ate itxaron, among others