Bakartxo Arrizabalaga (2009): 'Wilhelm Tell', Friedrich Schiller
After the romantic influence of the 19th Century, during the first third of the 20th Century, there was a revival of the Basque literature, in which Iñaki Goenaga, author of the translation of Wilhelm Tell, took part. The Basque literature is being reinforced, fed by many translations of classic Latin or Greek works, as well as by translations of other European literatures. It is all about encouraging the Basque cultural and political movement, for which this piece of work is very appropriate: a chant for freedom, for the search for freedom, a call for moral action from the aesthetic point of view, the work of Schiller greatly connects with the Renaissance movement that is being boosted in the Basque Country from the beginning of the century. Thus, the translator approaches the original text with the intention to adapt it to the Basque audience and to the needs of cultural dissemination that the Renaissance movement which the translator belongs to has. Therefore, it is all about a functional translation that can be used to transmit a simple message to the common people, in favour of a cultural recovery.
