(In Sweet Promised Land, Laxalt paints an affectionate por...)
In Sweet Promised Land, Laxalt paints an affectionate portrait of his father and, simultaneously, tells the story that connects immigrant families everywhere in the United States. Dominique Laxalt, a Basque-American sheepherder, is persuaded by his family to return home for a long-planned visit after living nearly half a century on the ranges of the American West.
(The words of native Nevadans and a picture essay on Nevad...)
The words of native Nevadans and a picture essay on Nevada as it is today accent a narrative review of the state's historical development and the diverse facets of its makeup.
(The time is the 1930s and the setting is a western fronti...)
The time is the 1930s and the setting is a western frontier town of a few thousand people, with one dubious distinction. Carson City, Nevada, is the smallest capital in the United States. Pete's world is circumscribed by Main Street - shops and stores, a pool hall, boarding-house hotels, and a capitol whose main contribution is as a place of liquid shade and precious green grass in blistering summers. By far the most important event of the day is when the steam whistle of the V & T sounds, signaling the passage of the shortline railway on its journey from Virginia City to Reno, "that impossibly big town of 20,000 people 30 miles away."
(In Robert Laxalt's earlier works he has written hauntingl...)
In Robert Laxalt's earlier works he has written hauntingly of the beauty of his ancestral Basque homeland. Now, in the second volume of his Basque family trilogy, he lifts the veil that conceals the subtle cruelties of those fierce guardians of private scandal, the villagers who will keep from the world what is dear to them.
(In this collection of sixteen short stories, Robert Laxal...)
In this collection of sixteen short stories, Robert Laxalt illuminates the Nevada of the 1950s. Written when Laxalt was in his twenties, the stories are as fresh as if they were penned yesterday.
(The Governor's Mansion is a candid, revealing novel about...)
The Governor's Mansion is a candid, revealing novel about a family caught up in the alien territory. Out of this struggle emerges a book richly original and rare in its intimate view of American politics.
(When World War II began, Nevada writer Robert Laxalt was ...)
When World War II began, Nevada writer Robert Laxalt was an undergraduate in college. Laxalt was eager to serve his country but was disqualified from military service because of a childhood illness that left him with a heart murmur.
(The son of a Basque emigrant, Robert Laxalt moved himself...)
The son of a Basque emigrant, Robert Laxalt moved himself and his family to a Basque village in the French Pyrenees in 1960. Based on this visit and a later sojourn in 1965, this is a record of a people, their homeland and culture, seen through Laxalt's text and his wife's photographs.
Robert Peter Laxalt was an American editor and writer. He is known as the author of Sweet Promised Land (1957).
Background
Robert Peter Laxalt was born on September 24, 1923, in Alturas, California, United States. He was a son of Dominique and Theresa (Alpetche) Laxalt.
Laxalt brought Basque identity to the forefront of those living in the Western States. Born on a livestock ranch during the Great Depression, he saw his father Dominique went out on the road doing whatever he could to make a living cause the depression. His mother heard that there was a Basque hotel in Carson City for sale called the French Hotel. The business went pretty well and even during Prohibition, the hotels served wine. The clientele was more American than Basque. The politicians took a liking to Paul at the time, said he'd be governor someday. Eventually, his father bought some ewes again and started buying private land so he would be able to run his sheep. He never wanted to be big again, because it was too risky. In the hotel, there were also many miners, prospectors, and buckaroos. In town, the Basques would wear their best suits every day. His father almost went crazy staying in the hotel, wanted to be outside in the mountains running sheep and cattle.
They knew most of the other families in the area, would travel around all the time. His father had only one American sheepherder, but he lost sheep. The significance of the Basque hotels were that they were a home away from home for the sheepherders, where they could speak Basque, play cards and have good food. About the herders, what they did and how they felt about their lifestyle. Who were the best sheepherders according to someone, scots, and Irishmen but the Basques would always stay with the sheep and never leave them.
Career
Mr. Laxalt wrote 14 books depicting life in the West, in Nevada and in the Basque country. Sweet Promised Land (1957), Laxalt's first and possibly best-known book, was based on the history of his father, Dominique, and his return to the homeland after forty-seven years as an immigrant sheepherder in Nevada. This book was especially well received in the ranching areas of Nevada and adjacent states and led to the creation of several "Basque Festivals" in those areas. Laxalt also served as a consultant to the Library of Congress on Basque culture and helped start the Basque Studies program at the University of Nevada.
Robert Laxalt founded the University of Nevada Press, which published almost all of his books written after 1964. This raised the prominence of the University of Nevada Press, but also limited the distribution and probably the critical attention given to Robert's books. He also served as the writer-in-residence at the University of Nevada Reno, and in 1988 became the first occupant of the Distinguished Nevada Author Chair at that university.
He organized support for a monument to the Basque sheepherder in a Reno city park.
"Robert Laxalt was as understated as he was brilliant as a novelist and Basque-American citizen. Warren Lerude's superb new study illuminates the life and artistry of Laxalt. Anyone who wants to understand the pastoral tradition of the American West needs to read the works of Robert Laxalt." - National Humanities Scholar Clay Jenkinson
Connections
Robert Laxalt was married to Joyce Nielsen Laxalt. The couple had three children: Bruce, Monique, and Kristin.