Josep Carner’s Diplomatic Career

Abstract

Carner was a renowned writer when he started his diplomatic career in 1920. He was considered the most eminent living Catalan poet and had an important presence in the social and cultural scene in Barcelona. His joining the Spanish consular service came as a bombshell. From then on he never again lived permanently in Catalonia, although he kept in touch and came back frequently until the Civil War. This article provides a detailed description of Carner’s diplomatic endeavours (and biography) based on his file at the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry’s archive, and it includes a final table that summarises all the jobs, postings and dates of his diplomatic career.