Description
Book SynopsisIn 1960, renowned Nevada writer Robert Laxalt moved himself and his family to a small Basque village in the French Pyrenees. The son of Basque emigrants, Laxalt wanted to learn as much as he could about the ancient and mysterious people from which he was descended and about the country from which his parents came. Thanks to his Basque surname and a wide network of family connections, Laxalt was able to penetrate the traditional reserve of the Basques in a way that outsiders rarely can. In the process, he gained rare insight into the nature of the Basques and the isolated, beautiful mountain world where they have lived for uncounted centuries. Based on Laxalt’s personal journals of this and a later sojourn in 1965,
The Land of My Fathers is a moving record of a people and their homeland. Through Laxalt’s perceptive eyes and his wife Joyce’s photographs, we observe the Basques’ market days and festivals, join their dove hunts and harvests, share their humor and history, their deep sense of nationalism, their abiding pride in their culture and their homes, and discover the profound sources of the Basques’ strength and their endurance as a people. Photography by Joyce Laxalt.
Trade Review“Short chapters, descriptive narration, and old sayings give the book the feel of a personal journal.” —
France TodayTable of Contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Author's Note
- A Flight of Doves
- Words
- On Market Day
- Common Goal
- The Fishing Fleet
- Law
- Invaders
- Tree of Gernika
- Tragedy
- Weakness
- Fete Dieu in Iholdy
- Basque Troubadours
- Good and Evil Joust on a Wine Glass
- Contrabandiers
- Frills and Fancy
- High Mountain Chapel
- Curiosity
- The Pilgrimage
- A Mean Woman
- Open Doors
- High Country / Low Country
- The Priest at Arneguy
- An Auction
- Duty
- Sorgina
- Work
- The German Occupation
- Penance for a Collaborator
- The Street of the Americans
- Reputation
- A Lion Tamer
- The Village Gossip
- Let It Go By
- Pantasha
- Bohemes
- Arretalepho
- Drink
- The Brotherhood of Shepherds
- The Basque Character
- Fishwives
- The Wind and the Rain
- Dawn
- Station
- Marriage
- Winter
- Contraband: Matching Wits and Wiles
- Old Woman's Admonition
- Neither a Basque Heart Nor Song
- Old Woman with a Car
- A Diffusion of Light
- The Man at Aldudes
- The Land Is Their Life
- Equality
- A Complicated Transaction
- Village Churchyards
- A Bargain with the Devil
- Pace of Life
- A Bond of Blood
- Betrayal
- The Founding Father
- The Grand Chateau
- Trust
- Duty
- Poor and Proud
- Epilogue: Agur
- An Album of Photos from the Basque Country
