Antoni Comas

Antoni Comas i Pujol was a university professor, historian and literary critic, first university professor of Catalan Language and Literature at the University of Barcelona after the Civil War.

Comas was born on January 3, 1931 in Mataró on calle Santa Teresa, in a modest and hard-working family, his paternal grandparents established service bindings with the aristocratic families of the Palau and Marfà, of whom were masovers and workers, respectively. His parents, Pompília Pujol and Juncà and Francesc Comas and Figueras worked at the textile factory of Can Marfà, from which the father succeeded in being a manufacturing leader. Antoni Comas was the smallest of five brothers, and from very young he was part of the life of Mataró. He studied at the school of Santa Anna, he belonged to the Mataroní Foment groups, the Mariana Congregations and the Lluïsos. He entered university in 1949, where he enrolled in Law and Philosophy and Letters. He ran the studies to the letters and the Law career soon abandoned him. In the student years he was part of the Curial clandestine magazine, which wanted to spread literature and culture beyond the gray panorama of the postwar period.

In 1953, he graduated with an Extraordinary Prize, and in 1956 he obtained a doctorate with a thesis on Ramon Vidal de Besalú. Martí de Riquer and Jordí Rubió were their most prominent teachers. He contributed in 1956 to the creation of the Lletra d'Or Prize and was part of the initial jury that gave the first prize to Salvador Espriu by Final del labirinto. In 1966, he won the Catalan Language and Literature Chair at the University of Barcelona, restored after the civil war, from which he contributed to the normalization of the language in the academic field, and beyond, how is it the case of the Catalan television program with us (1976) broadcast by the Catalan circuit of Televisión Española . He focused on research in various aspects of Catalan culture and literature, especially in modern times, expanded the field of study to the mystical Castilian, such as Santa Teresa de Jesús,  he began with Riquer the History of Catalan literature, in which he coordinated the fourth and fifth volumes - the fourth prize won the Nicolau d'Olwer Prize in 1971. In 1969 the chairs assigned to Romance Philology were replaced by departments, and Antoni Comas began to direct the Department of Catalan Philology. In 1974 he was elected a permanent member of the Real Academia de Bones Lletres, but did not take possession of the academic medal; he happened Salvador Espriu. He combined his dedication to teaching and research in newspapers such as El Noticiero Universal, Tele-Exprés or Avui.

Comas died on March 24, 1981.