Isidor Cònsul (Bellpuig, 1948 – Barcelona, 2009) was a publisher, literary critic and writer.

He studied to be a teacher and then turned to Romance Philology, and obtained a doctorate in Catalan Philology. He wrote as a literary critic in several publications, including Avui, El Temps and Serra d'Or, while also combining his work on contemporary literature with that of research into nineteenth-century Catalan literature. He was secretary of the Catalan PEN Centre from 1988 to 1999, and of the Ateneu Barcelonès from 1995 to 1998. Besides being a member of the editorial boards of a range of periodical publications, he was director of the publishing house Edicions Proa after 1998.

Notable among his research projects concerning nineteenth-century Catalan literature are his studies on Jacint Verdaguer, for example Jacint Verdaguer. Història, crítica i poesia (Jacint Verdaguer: History, Criticism and Poetry, 1986), and Perfils de Verdaguer (Profiles of Verdaguer, 2003). Along with Joaquim Molas, he edited Verdaguer's complete works in four volumes. Besides this specialist work, he also published a collection of his pieces of literary criticism in Llegir i escriure. Papers de crítica literària (Reading and Writing: Papers on Literary Criticism), which appeared in 1995.

Isidor Cònsul also wrote works of an autobiographical nature in which he developed a distinctive style combining the genres of the diary, memoirs and literary criticism. Most creative among these writings are Cinc estacions: un dietari (Five Seasons: A Diary, 1998), En el nom del pare (In the Name of the Father, 2004) and Tractat de Geografia (Treatise on Geography), which was awarded the 2008 "Marian Vayreda d'Olot" Prize.

He was a member of AELC (Association of Catalan Language Writers).


Web page: Abel Ramon Vidal for AELC.
Photographs: Author's personal files.
Translation: Julie Wark.