JOAN FUSTER: WE, THE VALENCIANS

Joan Fuster i Ortells

Joan Fuster i Ortells (23 November 1922-21 June 1992) was a Valencian writer. He is considered a major writer in Catalan language and his work contributed to reinvigorate left-wing, pro-Catalan nationalism in Valencia during the Spanish transition to democracy. 

In his influential political essay Nosaltres, els valencians (1962) he coined the term Països Catalans, Catalan Countries, to refer to the Catalan-speaking territories, for which he claimed independent statehood from Spain.

In 1947 Fuster graduated with a degree in law and he received a doctoral degree in Catalan philology in 1985. Of his first books, all of which are poetry, Escrit per al silenci, Written for the Silence (1954) stands out. 

With El descrèdit de la Realitat, The Discredit of Reality (1955) he started a notable career as an essayist of vast thematic breadth and whose incisive style was noted for its precise use of adjectives. Another aspect of his work was his erudition and concern with the craft of storytelling and he worked greatly to maintain a literary reviewal he pushed forward in anthologies. His dedication to Valencian themes culminated in 1962 with the publication of what remained as his most known work: Nosaltres els valencians, We, the Valencians. 

Joan Fuster and Josep Pla

Within the realm of essay writing, he published L'home, mesura de totes les coses, The Man, Measure of All Things (1967), within the tradition moral root of classical humanism, close in spirit to the moralists and French reformers as a critic and skeptic noted for his acid humor. 

He became the intellectual leader of Valencian nationalism by the end of the 20th century, and was central in proposing the Països Catalans concept, which advocated for unity within Catalan culture as proposed by Catalan nationalists. In these books Fuster asserted that it was necessary to strengthen Valencia's relationships with the other Catalan speaking territories for there to be any chance of defending the autonomous culture of Valencia. In this way he sought to bring a Catalan-based cultural community into existence.

Fuster is, for some, the most remarkable political essayist in Catalan of the generations that appeared after the Spanish Civil War.

On September 11, 1981, two bombs exploded in his house, damaging heavily his library and archive. Nobody was prosecuted, but it is widely believed that it was the anti-Catalan far right's response to Fuster's political and cultural position. He died in Sueca, his hometown, in 1992.

More information: Visat

Joan Fuster was a person of an incredible intelligence 

and a great tenderness. He is essential.

Maria del Mar Bonet