Euro-Dentity – Webs of Languages and Self
Bernardo Atxaga and Ilan Stavans joined us at Boston University on May 4th, 2009 for a discussion entitled Euro-Density: Webs of Language and Self.
Bernardo Atxaga, whose real name is José Irazu Garmendia, was born in Asteasu, Basque County, in 1951. Atxaga studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona between 1981 and 1984, after having graduated from the University of Bilbao with a degree in Economic Science. Although he started out a professional career as an economist, Atxaga decided in 1980 to dedicate himself entirely to his work in literature. He writes in Basque and for the most part translates his own texts into Spanish.
Born in 1961 in Mexico, Ilan Stavans was raised in an Eastern European Jewish family. Stavans moved to the United States in 1985 to pursue a doctorate degree from Columbia University in New York City. During this time he also began writing. Some of his works include: The Hispanic Condition; On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language; The Essential Ilan Stavans; and The One-Handed Pianist and Other Stories. He is the editor of The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories and The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays.
This event was moderated by Mark Feeney, who began his career at the Boston Globe in 1979 as a researcher. Since then, he has worked as assistant book editor, book editor, editor of the Globe’s weekly news analysis and commentary, and staff writer for the Boston Globe magazine. Feeney has been a lecturer in American Studies at Brandeis University since 2004. And in 2008, Feeney was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism for his work on visual culture.
WBUR aired this discussion on May 24th, 2009.
