Between Language and Reality: Translation in Ramon Saizarbitoria’s Martutene

Abstract

The mistrust of the possibilities of language to represent reality is among the main features of the narrative work by the Basque author Ramon Saizarbitoria. This mistrust is brought out by the wavering narration and the employ of an unreliable narrator, as well as by the author’s reflections on translation. This article will review the theoretical positions that Saizarbitoria has maintained and expressed in books and interviews: starting from the idea of ​​translating developed in his own work, he offers a rich speculation about the function of translation in the Basque literary system. In addition, the author’s ideas about translation that appear in his novel Martutene (2012) will be analysed, namely embodied in the character Julia. The aim is to describe the grounds and forms of the wide space of representation that opens up between language and reality. Therefore, the translation practices developed by Julia will be commented upon, since translation is described as the space in which the gap between language and reality is produced in a more stable way. Through the fictional character Julia and her translation work, Saizarbitoria presents several of his own opinions and obsessions about the proper use of language in the search for the “exact name” of things.

Keywords

• Basque novel. Ramón Saizarbitoria. Reality and fiction. Translation