Aintzane Legarreta Mentxaka (died 10 February 2022) was a Basque writer and academic, who was based in Dublin, County Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.
Biography Mentxaka was a scholar of English literature, specialising in modernism. She is the author of The Postcolonial Traveller (2016),Palo Alto (Cal.): Academica Press, 2016. and Kate O'Brien and the Fiction of Identity (2011).Jefferson (N.C.): McFarland, 2011. According to The Irish Examiner, "[her] prose is clear, well-written and informative, and opens new and fascinating doors to the interpretation of O'Brien's novels".Peter Murray, "Viewpoints timely look at evolving Ireland", The Irish Examiner, 25 February 2013. The Postcolonial Traveller offers, in the words of Paddy Woodworth, a series of "sophisticated arguments" on O'Brien's novel Mary Lavelle, analysing it "provocatively and . . . fruitfully".Paddy Woodworth. "Foreword". A.L. Mentxaka, 'The Postcolonial Traveller', Palo Alto (Ca): Academica Press, 2016, pp. ix–x. According to the European Journal of English Studies, Kate O'Brien and the Fiction of Identity reads like "a challenging detective story, scholarly, yet unpredictable.""[Mentxaka's book] reads like a challenging detective story, scholarly, yet unpredictable, and sparkling with good spirits. . . I was impressed by the historical approach to continental socialism devoid of prejudice, [and] took pleasure in Mentxaka's chronicle of industrial Bilbao's life and struggles . . . As a film lover, and a fan of Victorian and modern English literatures, I was equally impressed." he European English Messenger (journal of the European Society for the Study of English), Volume 22.1 (Summer 2013): 91–3. Mentxaka has published on the work of Woolf, Joyce, Richardson, Kate O'Brien, and others.Paige Reynolds, "The Banned Irish feminist who took on de Valera", The Irish Times, 24 June 2018.
She also wrote plays.'Claire O'Brien interviews A.L. Mentxaka, 'Arena' Arts and Culture, Midlands 103 Radio, 4 September 2014. http://www.midlandsradio.fm/ They include A Pair of New Eyes (2013),Dublin: Gur Cake Editions, 2013. Premiered Sean O'Casey Theatre, Dublin. Other productions: 24–30 August 2014, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin; on tour August 2014 at The Hermitage, Pearse Museum, Rathfarnham, September 2014 at Birr Theatre, Birr, Offaly. For Valentine (2009, 2014),Premiered 18 May 2014, at Aldelphi Theatre, Dublin. Visitor (AD 1585) (2015),Premiered in Dublin Castle (Dublin, Ireland), 23 August 2015. One Nite Stand: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy (2014),From an idea by Auxi Martinez. Premiered 18 May 2014, Adelphi Theatre, Dublin. Alien in Bewleys (1999), and Grainne (2015, co-written with J. Costello, K. Doyle, and L. Errity).Premiered 24 November 2015 at Adelphi Theatre, Dublin. The play A Pair of New Eyes was included in "Ten Things To Do" in Gay Community News magazine, which summarised it as "Romance, friendship, betrayal, seduction, and two respectable ladies".Gay Community News, Issue 287, November 2013.See also FINAL DRAFT journal, Issue 173, October 2013, the FWSA Newsletter, Issue 61, September 2013, and the E-Bulletin of Dublin City Arts Council Arts Office Newsletter, Dublin City Council Arts Office, October 2013. Mentxaka collaborated with a group of writers for a performance of The Ministers.The Ministers (Presentation of the First Revolutionary Government of an Independent Ireland, August 1916), by J. Costello, K. Doyle, L. Errity, and A. L.Mentxaka. Premiered 24 August 2016 in the chapel at Dublin Castle.
Mentxaka lectured at American College Dublin. She has also worked at Dublin City University, and at University College Dublin,'Aintzane Legarreta', Academic Profile, UCD. http://www.ucd.ie/research/people/englishdramafilm/draintzanelegarreta/ where she completed a post-doctoral research fellowship on Modernism."Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme 2015". NUI postdoctoral fellowship, the most important Humanities fellowship in Ireland.
She died in Dublin on 10 February 2022.
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