Joan Fuster: Nosaltres, els valencians (1962-2012)

Joan Fuster:

Nosaltres, els valencians (1962-2012)

From 16 February 2012  to  18 March 2012

Estudi General Hall - La Nau

From Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 20 h.

Sunday, from 10 to 14 h.

Organised by Universitat de València (Department for Culture and Joan Fuster Professorship)

Produced by General Foundation of Universitat de València and Joan Fuster Professorship

With cooperation from the Interuniversity Institute of Valencian Philology, the Institute of Catalan Studies, the Town Council of Sueca,  Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, and Universitat d’Alacant.   

A project by Ferran Carbó and Francesc Pérez i Moragón.

http://www.uv.es/catedra

Overview

2012 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first edition of Nosaltres, els valencians (We, Valencians), an essay of political, social and cultural history and a milestone in Joan Fuster's extensive biography (Sueca, 1922-1992).

The relevance of his book stems from its primordial influence on the renewal of historiography and in general on the human science study and discussion about the Valencian Country. This influence was not constrained to the academic realm. Rather, it transcended society as a whole in diverse ways. It did so in different periods and in situations of all sorts over the past fifty years, from the last Francoist phase to date.

Through the documents kept by the author and based on an overview of the author during the period when he wrote the book, the exhibition is intended to illustrate Joan Fuster's personality, the year 1962, the production of the book, its immediate success and the difficulties encountered as a result of censorship under Franco’s regime. This aim has been a guiding principle in choosing and arranging the exhibits.

Over the last fifty years, the book has been republished on thirty occasions in Catalan and three in Spanish. Its popularity with ordinary people but also with historians, economists and politicians has been enormous. This can be seen in all types of written references, in favour or against, and in specialist reviews —which is only logical, for the book was published a long time ago. Besides, Fuster’s work has certainly supplied the political and para-political discussion with food for thought. In the selection of the documents exhibited and reproduced in the catalogue, such references have been limited to those chronologically immediate to the publication of the book. For two basic reasons. First, because it was impossible to collect all known references and because any absences would have been misunderstood. And second, to avoid anachronism.

In addition, the exhibition seeks to spread a very significant part of Fuster’s tangible legacy, one which is still little known, like his Sueca home, not yet fully accessible to the public. Therefore, the exhibits include a number of art pieces collected by the writer —often gifts by the artists—, such as those by Andreu Alfaro, Antonio Saura, Manuel Boix, Albert Ràfols Casamada, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Ponç, Joan Miró, Rafael Armengol, Artur Heras, Equipo Crónica, Josep Renau, Equipo Realidad, Hernández Mompó, among others. Apart from paintings and sculptures —sometimes reproduced in photographs of the author— some samples of his graphic work collection have been included.

The exhibition has been organised by the Department for Culture, Equality and Planning and the Joan Fuster Professorship of Universitat de València, with cooperation from the Council of Sueca, the Interuniversity Institute of Valencian Philology, the Catalan Department of Universitat de València and the Institute of Catalan Studies; and the coordinators are Ferran Carbó and Francesc Pérez i Moragón, Joan Fuster Professorship (Universitat de València), and Brígida Alapont (Casa Fuster, Sueca).

The exhibition will travel to Alacant, Castelló de la Plana, Gandia, Sueca and Barcelona.