La historia real del padre Ayestarán, el «personaje novelesco» central de El asalto de Julián Zugazagoitia [The true story of father Ayestaran, the central «novel character» in Julián Zugazagoitia’s novel El asalto]

Abstract

In his social novel El asalto (The Assault, 1930) Julián Zugazagoitia described the difficult situation of in workers the first industrialization in Biscay and the formation of the Basque socialism through the intense work of diverse historical figures, such as Facundo Perezagua and Pablo Iglesias. In this way he frames several seemingly fictional figures standing out Fermín Ayestarán, a young navarre priest sent to the mining zone of this province who became more and more committed with the labourers, severed his bonds with Church and ended committing suicide in Barcelona. The work shows that this priest was a real person and it also outlines the principal milestones of his career and the circumstances in which he killed himself. Furthermore, the...