Valor i Vives, Enric (Castalla, l’Alcoià, 1911). Narrator and grammarian. He promoted the adoption of Fabra’s orthography in the weekly newspaper El Tio Cuc of Alicante, collaborated with El Camí, El País Valencià, La República de les Lletres, Jornada, and other publications, and directed the editorial staff of Gorg. He published Rondalles valencianes (1950–1958), Narracions de la foia de Castalla (1953), Meravelles i picardies (1964–1970), and the novels L’ambició d’Aleix (1960), as well as those forming the so-called Cassana cycle: Sense la terra promesa (1980), Temps de batuda (1983), and Enllà de l’horitzó (1991).

He played a major role in promoting Pompeu Fabra’s grammar in the Valencian Country through works such as Millorem el llenguatge (1971) and Curso medio de gramática catalana referida especialmente al País Valenciano (1973). In 1976, the publication of his complete works began.

Undoubtedly, the cultural, literary, and linguistic consolidation of the Valencian Country owes much to the work of a small group of individuals, among whom stand out intellectuals such as Sanchis Guarner, Carles Salvador, Joan Fuster, Vicent Andrés Estellés, and Enric Valor.

As a storyteller, he compiled and reworked 36 folktales of great folkloric and narrative value. The Valencian Tales were included in the first and second volumes of his Obra literària completa (Gorg, 1975). They were later republished in eight volumes by the Federació d’Entitats Culturals del País Valencià (1984), and subsequently adapted for children by Rosa Serrano and published by Gregal in 36 volumes, with a total of 216,000 copies printed.

As a grammarian, he was considered from the beginning the voice of Fabra, alongside Carles Salvador and Sanchis Guarner. From an early age, he worked closely with them, providing lexical material from southern Valencian for the Diccionari català-valencià-balear, directed by Francesc de Borja Moll.

After the proclamation of the Republic, he began publishing linguistic articles in the local press and later lessons in Jornada, which led to the publication of Millorem el llenguatge (Gorg, 1971).

During the Franco regime, he published Curso de lengua valenciana (Gorg, 1961). He later released Curso medio de gramática catalana referida especialmente al País Valenciano (Gorg, 1973), which was finally published in Valencian in 1977 (Tres i Quatre). It is evident that he could not remain unaffected by the sociopolitical conditions of the time.

In 1983 he published La flexió verbal (Tres i Quatre), which was so well received that it has reached its 23rd edition. This work brought order to the highly dialectalized verbal conjugation that existed in the various Valencian regions and has become the normative reference work for all language teachers in the Valencian Community regarding verb usage.

Valor’s lexicographical richness goes beyond the grammar studies he produced. He collected legends from the people of various regions and gave them a cultured literary form without losing their popular essence.

As a novelist, his contribution was also substantial. His first novel, begun in the 1940s and 1950s, revised and censored over ten years, was finally published in 1960 as L’ambició d’Aleix (first edition by Sucesor de Vives Mora).

In 1980, Sense la terra promesa (Prometeo) was published, marking the beginning of the extensive Cassana trilogy, which served as an effort to recover collective memory and spans a historical period from 1916 to 1939. In 1982, La idea de l’emigrant (Fernando Torres) and the full edition of L’ambició d’Aleix were published. A year later, Temps de batuda, the second installment of the trilogy, appeared under the same publisher.

Finally, in 1991, Tàndem Edicions began the publication of his complete literary works, starting with the three volumes of the Cassana cycle: Sense la terra promesa, Temps de batuda, and Enllà de l’horitzó, with forewords by Professors Vicent Escrivà and Josep Iborra.

In addition to chronological and bibliographical records, we should mention the awards and honors he received: in 1985, the Valencian Letters Award (Premi de les Lletres Valencianes), and two years later, in 1987, the Honor Award for Catalan Letters (Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes). In 1993, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Valencia, and in the same year, received the Creu de Sant Jordi from the Government of Catalonia. In 1998, he was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of the Balearic Islands, and in 1999 by both the Universitat Jaume I and the University of Alicante, as well as by the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Enric Valor authored grammars and works on verbal morphology to enable all Valencians—all those who live and work in our regions—to speak and write Valencian correctly. In the words of the poet:

“Ha viscut per salvar-nos els mots, per retornar-nos el nom de cada cosa.”

(“He lived to save our words, to return to us the name of every thing.”)

ENRIC VALOR I VIVES (Castalla, 1911)

AWARDS

• Premi Sanchis Guarner, Diputació de València, 1983

• Premi de les Lletres Valencianes, 1985

• Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, 1987

• Honorary Doctorate, University of Valencia, 1993

• Creu de Sant Jordi, 1993

• Honorary Doctorate, University of the Balearic Islands, 1998

• Honorary Doctorate, Universitat Jaume I, 1999

• Honorary Doctorate, University of Alicante, 1999

NOVELS

• L’ambició d’Aleix, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1957 (1st ed. Sucesor de Vives Mora, 1960)

• Sense la terra promesa, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1993 (1st ed. Prometeo, 1980)

• La idea de l’emigrant, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1983 (1st ed. Fernando Torres, 1982)

• Temps de batuda, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1993 (1st ed. Fernando Torres, 1983)

• L’ambició d’Aleix, Plaza & Janés, Barcelona, 1987

• Enllà de l’horitzó, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1993 (1st ed. 1991)

NARRATIVE WORKS

• L’experiment de Strolowickz, El Camí, Valencia, 1931

• Narracions de la Foia de Castalla, Editorial Barcino, Barcelona, 1953

• Narracions intranscendents, Fernando Torres, Valencia, 1982

• Narracions perennes, Gregal Llibres, Valencia, 1988

• L’esclafamuntanyes, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1995

• Un fonamentalista del Vinalopó i altres contarelles, Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1996

FOLKTALES

• Rondalles valencianes, Vol. I, Editorial Torre, Valencia, 1950

• Rondalles gironines i valencianes, Editorial Ariel, Barcelona, 1951

• Rondalles valencianes, Vol. II, Editorial Torre, Valencia, 1951

• Rondalles valencianes, Vol. III, Editorial Torre, Valencia, 1958

• Meravelles i picardies, Vol. I, Editorial L’Estel, Valencia, 1964

• Meravelles i picardies, Vol. II, Editorial L’Estel, Valencia, 1970

• Obra literària completa, Vol. I, Editorial Gorg, Valencia, 1975

• Obra literària completa, Vol. II, Editorial Gorg, Valencia, 1976

• Rondalles valencianes, 8 vols., Edicions del Bullent / Federació d’Entitats Culturals del País Valencià, 1984–1988

• Rondalles valencianes, 8 vols., Tàndem Edicions, Valencia, 1992–1993 (Adaptation by Rosa Serrano)

GRAMMAR AND LEXICOGRAPHY

• Curso de lengua valenciana, Editorial Gorg, Valencia, 1966

• Millorem el llenguatge, Editorial Tres i Quatre, Valencia, 1999 (1st ed., 2 vols., Gorg, 1971)

• Curso medio de gramática catalana referida especialmente al País Valenciano, Editorial Gorg, Valencia, 1973

• Curs mitjà de gramàtica catalana referida especialment al País Valencià, Editorial Tres i Quatre, Valencia, 1997 (1st ed. 1977)

• La flexió verbal, Editorial Tres i Quatre, Valencia, 1999 (1st ed. 1983)

• Temes de correcció lingüística, Editorial Tres i Quatre, Valencia, 1984 (1st ed. 1983)

• Vocabulari fonamental, Editorial Plaza & Janés, Barcelona, 1988

• Vocabulari escolar de la llengua, Carena Editors, Valencia, 1989

• Expressions peculiars de la llengua: locucions i frases fetes, with Rosa Serrano, Tàndem Edicions, 1993

OTHER WORKS

• Paraula de la terra. Escrits seleccionats, University of Valencia, Valencia, 1998