La memòria col·lectiva dels valencians en nicolau primitiu gómez serrano. Estudi i edició del dietari varia i (1934-1935)

Resumen

This work seeks to make available to the scientific community, the study, transcription and textual criticism of the first part of the unpublished volume Varia I (1934-1935) (referred to as Varia I) by Nicolau Primitiu Gómez Serrano, also well known as don Nicolau o don Nicolau Primitiu. The diary is accompanied by a collection of contextual and other relevant information, which includes letters, photographs, and other unpublished documents, relating to the historical context of the Second Spanish Republic. Beyond the historical information that this piece of work contributes, Varia I by don Nicolau is of significant interest to the linguistic and literary history of the Valencian Country. It proves to be a unique testimony of the use of Catalan in the Valencian memoir tradition, while also corresponding to a time of intense activity in the cultural and political Valencian nationalism realm. During this period, the patrician had a remarkable importance, since he acted as the president of Lo Rat Penat i Proa and as a patron of different editorial initiatives. In the study of Varia I we have analyzed the author’s most recurring characteristics: his reflections on language and nation, his contributions to toponymy, and his vision on valencianism and its relation with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In each chapter, we have attempted to contrast the information with published studies by the patrician himself and his contemporaries. His linguistic observations refer to grammar, dialectology and popular phraseology, and local lexicon. Upon the study of Varia’s linguistic model, we have focused on the author’s language and his use of metalinguistics. The document, from 1934-1935, belongs to a vast personal memoir project over a span of over fifty years (1916-1971). In fact, the few remaining testimonials written in Catalan from the end of the 18th century are not Valencian and, until the beginning of the 20th century, few works of literary value can be found. Consequently, we have outlined a panoramic view allowing us to assess the evolution of the diaristic tradition over time and the singularity of the patron’s “diaristic” volumes. While the language scholar will be able to extract valuable information on the status of the Valencian language of the 1930s from Varia I, the cultural history scholar will be able to obtain first-hand data in order to analyze the evolution of the Valencian society and, more specifically, the period’s cultural Valencianism. Varia I was written from the privileged position of a man who was president of different cultural entities during the convulsive years of the Second Republic and who was considered the epitome of conciliation in the Catalan-speaking linguistic dominion, and respected by all. Don Nicolau was one of the few members of the Valencian bourgeoisie who showed his loyalty towards the language and the country, both with words and actions, at a moment in time when it was still the common language spoken by the majority of the Valencian bourgeoisie. As a result, he favored, among other things, the creation of a large interclass Valencian entity.