On Eider Rodriguez’s Fiction: Gender, Anger, and (Basque) Politics

Abstract The work of Basque short story writer Eider Rodriguez (Errenteria, 1977) has garnered remarkable acclaim from contemporary critics and readers alike. In the realm of Basque literature—which often rolls into the common sea of politics and/or sentimentality—Rodriguez’s stories slickly swim their way between both waters; and fly inland as the Basque witches’ old saying goes, “sasi guztien gainetik, hodei guztien azpitik” [above all bushes, beneath all clouds]. Awarded with the Basque National Literature Prize in 2018, Rodriguez is the author of four short story collections: Eta handik gutxira gaur (Susa 2004), Haragia (Susa 2007), Katu jendea (Elkar 2010), Bihotz handiegia (Susa 2017) and the title of her first novel Erainkuntzarako Materiala (Susa 2021). Without resorting to the apparel of great events, Rodriguez’s bare sketches explore the everyday, small world of unnamed cities, in small circles from family to local ambiance. Plainly focused on such a microcosm, the author portrays a nuanced milieu of pervasive violence within the interactions of her characters with families, neighbors, friends, lovers, and—none the least—themselves. Bereft of any political correctness, Rodriguez represents a rich universe of frustrated, bored, fearful, and angry characters (Gabilondo 2019). This article examines the author’s fictional world of ubiquitous anger and resentment and explores the origin and scope of such violence by interpreting it as a metaphor of the personal and social anxieties triggered by politics in the—allegedly peaceful—contemporary Basque Country.