Basque writer Bernardo Atxaga turns his attention toward the American West in Nevada Days, a rapt and thoroughly entertaining work of autobiographical fiction. It is beautifully translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa and revolves around Atxaga's time (2007-2008) as a writer-in-residence at the University of Nevada's Center for Basque Studies in Reno. While Nevada is famous for its Basque immigrant community--and many U.S.-born writers who make pilgrimages to the European homeland--Nevada Days makes its mark by reversing this order. Atxaga is like a modern-day Tocqueville seeing the deserts of America, both physical and spiritual, with fresh insight.
The book walks a pleasant, meandering line between fiction and nonfiction. Most of it reads like a travel memoir, structured in short chronological entries, but the pages wander, loaded with tangential stories, intermittent dreams and stubborn memories. Atxaga ruminates on his father's death and the strange congruities of history. For instance, he recalls his father's stories of Basque fascist boxer Paulino Uzcudun, then later visits the nearby site where Uzcudun trained for his stateside fights.
A critic of supernatural belief, Atxaga nonetheless creates some uncanny moments. When learning of his close friend's death, for example, he dreams of the desert in which endless lines of trucks and containers are used in the eternal "loading and unloading of metaphors." Nevada Days pulls many threads together to make a rich and captivating tapestry. Atxaga is a persistently sharp writer, crossing boundaries and bringing different worlds closer. --Scott Neuffer, writer, poet, editor of trampset