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Georges Bernanos;: A study of the man and the writer
Book by Speaight, Robert
285 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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October 9, 2021
Georges Bernanos was one of the greatest of the generation of Catholic writers who dominated Western Literature during the first 75 years of the 20th century. Included in the group from France were Francois Mauriac, Charles Péguy, Paul Claudel and of course Bernanos. The Anglo-Saxon list was both longer and arguably even more distinguished includes: G.K. Chesterton, J.R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Green, Evelyn Waugh, Hillaire Belloc, Antonia Fraser, Flannery O'Connor, Rumer Goden and finally Robert Speaight. Speaight in his biography sets out to explain to those readers with the Anglo-Saxon group what Bernanos believed and how he differed from the other prominent French Catholic writers. His book succeeds brilliantly for the Anglo-Saxon reader. It would also be very valuable for Francophones who appear to have forgotten about the achievement of French-speaking writers in the 20th Century.
Speaight begins by pointing out that Bernanos had no understanding whatsoever of English literature which even during his life-term was extremely rare and which today is difficult to fathom. He understood the world only from the perspective of a provincial French Catholic. He hated Republicanism in all forms. He was an inflexible Monarchist and hostile to democracy. For several years in the 1920s he wrote for publications of the right-wing monarchist movement "Action Francaise" but split with it when the Vatican condemned the works of several of its writers (most notably Charles Maurras) as being heretical. While the condemnation of the Vatican mattered to Bernanos, he had already become unhappy with what he perceived as a drift towards Republicanism by the Action Francaise.
Although Bernanos had military and authoritarian values, he was always opposed to fascism because it was neither Catholic nor Monarchist. He quickly came to dislike Mussolini. In 1936, he began publishing a series of explosive newspaper articles (published in book form in 1938 as "The Grand Cemeteries of the Moon") denouncing the atrocities by Franco's Nationalists committed against the civilian population of Majorca where Bernanos lived. In these articles, Bernanos vehemently denounced Catholic writers and intellectuals who supported Franco most notably Paul Claudel
Bernanos spent WWII in self-imposed exile in Brazil where he wrote articles that were highly critical of the Vichy Regime and Marshall Petain in particular. Two of his sons enrolled in De Gaulle's Free French Army. De Gaulle invited him as a hero to return to France in 1945 after liberation. Before dying in 1948, Bernanos became close friends with André Malraux which surprised many.
As a Catholic writer, Bernanos had no interest in what he considered to be theological issues. His heros were Priests who fought like soldiers against Satan and his demons. Speaight considered "Sous le Soleil de Satan" and "Le journal d'un curé de campagne" to be his greatest works. He also thinks highly of "The Grand Cemeteries of the Moon" although it seems to me to be simply a polemic against Franco of little value outside of the context in which it was published. Speaight is lukewarm in his praise of "Les dialogues des Carmélites" and surprising indifferent to the great opera that Poulenc wrote based upon it.
Speaight is generally extremely good at explaining Bernanos position was in relation to the other French Catholic intellectuals of his era and how is moral rigour prevented him from drifting into the fascist camp as happened to so many other Catholic intellectuals during the era. Speaight is less successful at explaining what the brilliance of Bernanos was as a writer but his analyses of the individual works are all quite competent.
Speaight leaves a number of issues unanswered. For example, while Bernanos was vehemently criticizing Franco and those French intellectuals who supported him, his son was fighting in Franco's army. Speaight's surprising comment is that Bernanos was proud of Yves for continuing the military traditon of the family and does not suggest that there was every any friction between father and son for their apparently contradictory positions on the Spanish Civil War. Speaight does make it clear that when Yves later enrolled in the Free French Army, Bernanos was very proud.
Speaight's book is a very good biography of a major figure who deserves a much larger audience than he currently has. It will provide a great deal of pleasure to any English-speaking reader who studied Bernanos as an undergraduate. While clearly intended for the Anglo-Saxon public, it would also explain many things very well for the contemporary French reader who as a rule has had little exposure to the French Catholic literary tradition of the mid-twentieth century.
Speaight begins by pointing out that Bernanos had no understanding whatsoever of English literature which even during his life-term was extremely rare and which today is difficult to fathom. He understood the world only from the perspective of a provincial French Catholic. He hated Republicanism in all forms. He was an inflexible Monarchist and hostile to democracy. For several years in the 1920s he wrote for publications of the right-wing monarchist movement "Action Francaise" but split with it when the Vatican condemned the works of several of its writers (most notably Charles Maurras) as being heretical. While the condemnation of the Vatican mattered to Bernanos, he had already become unhappy with what he perceived as a drift towards Republicanism by the Action Francaise.
Although Bernanos had military and authoritarian values, he was always opposed to fascism because it was neither Catholic nor Monarchist. He quickly came to dislike Mussolini. In 1936, he began publishing a series of explosive newspaper articles (published in book form in 1938 as "The Grand Cemeteries of the Moon") denouncing the atrocities by Franco's Nationalists committed against the civilian population of Majorca where Bernanos lived. In these articles, Bernanos vehemently denounced Catholic writers and intellectuals who supported Franco most notably Paul Claudel
Bernanos spent WWII in self-imposed exile in Brazil where he wrote articles that were highly critical of the Vichy Regime and Marshall Petain in particular. Two of his sons enrolled in De Gaulle's Free French Army. De Gaulle invited him as a hero to return to France in 1945 after liberation. Before dying in 1948, Bernanos became close friends with André Malraux which surprised many.
As a Catholic writer, Bernanos had no interest in what he considered to be theological issues. His heros were Priests who fought like soldiers against Satan and his demons. Speaight considered "Sous le Soleil de Satan" and "Le journal d'un curé de campagne" to be his greatest works. He also thinks highly of "The Grand Cemeteries of the Moon" although it seems to me to be simply a polemic against Franco of little value outside of the context in which it was published. Speaight is lukewarm in his praise of "Les dialogues des Carmélites" and surprising indifferent to the great opera that Poulenc wrote based upon it.
Speaight is generally extremely good at explaining Bernanos position was in relation to the other French Catholic intellectuals of his era and how is moral rigour prevented him from drifting into the fascist camp as happened to so many other Catholic intellectuals during the era. Speaight is less successful at explaining what the brilliance of Bernanos was as a writer but his analyses of the individual works are all quite competent.
Speaight leaves a number of issues unanswered. For example, while Bernanos was vehemently criticizing Franco and those French intellectuals who supported him, his son was fighting in Franco's army. Speaight's surprising comment is that Bernanos was proud of Yves for continuing the military traditon of the family and does not suggest that there was every any friction between father and son for their apparently contradictory positions on the Spanish Civil War. Speaight does make it clear that when Yves later enrolled in the Free French Army, Bernanos was very proud.
Speaight's book is a very good biography of a major figure who deserves a much larger audience than he currently has. It will provide a great deal of pleasure to any English-speaking reader who studied Bernanos as an undergraduate. While clearly intended for the Anglo-Saxon public, it would also explain many things very well for the contemporary French reader who as a rule has had little exposure to the French Catholic literary tradition of the mid-twentieth century.
Displaying 1 of 1 review