Five publishers publish the poems and songs of Xabier Lete in a single three-volume work

The poems and the Xabier Lete song lyrics have been collected in a single three-volume work for whose publication the publishers have joined Alberdania, Elkar, Erein, Pamiela and Txalapartawith the purpose of “to preserve the legacy of one of the fundamental figures of Basque culture”.

In total, there are almost 1000 pages, divided into three books, which, under the title “Poem eta besti guztiak”are collected in a box, with a careful edition that has received the support of the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and which was presented this Thursday, at a press conference in the foral palace, with the participation of the general deputy, Markel Olano, and the Minister of Culture, María José Tellería.

The teachers Alex Gurrutxaga and Lourdes Otaegi, experts in the work of Lete, have been commissioned to carry out this work. They have had at their disposal the Xabier Lete Fund, which has been in the hands of the Provincial Council since 2016 and contains, among its extensive material, manuscripts and private papers of the poet and singer-songwriter who died on December 4, 2010.

“We have adapted his work in three copies, providing it with prologues and notes. This means that we have added notes and explanations to Lete’s texts, so that, as far as possible, its context and intention can be understood,” explained the responsible for the edition, according to the foral institution in a statement.

three volumes

The first volume collects the first three books published by Lete, between 1968 and 1981, two of which were awarded. The second compiles the last three books, which were published between 1990 and 2008 and which also received various awards, including the Euskadi Prize for “Egunsentiaren esku izoztuak”. The third and last volume it is the one that presents the most novelties, because, in addition to “the songs and loose poems that have appeared here and there”, it has two unpublished series of poems, and many other songs and translations.

Gurrutxaga and Otaegi are sure that this last book will please lovers of Lete’s work, because they will see texts that had not been found until now and because they will see “that he sang about unexpected themes”.

The professors have found it necessary to expose in footnotes some of the linguistic and sociopolitical changes of the last half century, as well as to underline some of Lete’s semantic and aesthetic options. What they have not published are “sketches” of poems, even though they are unpublished; only texts that were “available to print” have been included.

“In the Lete Fund there is, for example, a series of poems, with a cover included, titled ‘Arrastoa eta itzala’, from 1968. I was prepared, and even Juan San Martín mentioned that Lete was going to publish this book, but, finally , it did not. Here, we have recovered it”, they have highlighted.

They have said that readers will also value the poems grouped under the title “Itsaso eragotziaren kanta gogoetatsuak”, which are from 1976 and express, “through the metaphor of the sea, the concern for the cultural, sociopolitical and ecological concerns of the time”. .