L'Imposture

Les Ténèbres #1

by Georges Bernanos

The Impostor is a searching account of the torment that besets Father Cénabre, historian of mysticism and controversial star of the Parisian clergy, when his faith suddenly deserts him. As the priest struggles to cope secretly, he crosses paths with associates on the complex margins of a Church facing modern politics in the early twentieth century. Georges Bernanos’s compelling and dark portraits of that shadowy world’s inhabitants throw into stark relief the determination of a humble priest, Father Chevance, who alone knows Cénabre’s secret and struggles to save him. By turn touching and scathing, The Impostor explores the delicate balance between redemption and damnation and illuminates the fragility of our constructed selves.Georges Bernanos (1888–1948), one of the twentieth century’s most powerful and idiosyncratic writers, was also the most original Roman Catholic writer of his time. The Impostor , the second of his novels published in French, is the last to be translated into English.

Genres: Literature, Novels, France, French Literature

314 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Georges Bernanos était un écrivain français, gagneur du Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française en 1936 avec Journal d'un curé de campagne.

George Bernanos was a French writer. His 1936 book, Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest), won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française.

Reviews

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

La première partie était vraiment bien, très forte (et très sombre), mais vers le dernier tiers du livre, c'est devenu impossible à suivre, on ne sait pas où l'auteur veut en venir et j'arrivais à peine à lire une ou deux pages par jour tellement l'écriture était confuse. J'ai préféré (de très loin) Journal d'un curé de campagne.

[Piotr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que se passerait-il si un prêtre se rendait soudain compte qu'il avait perdu la foi et qu'il, par orgueil, gardait ses fonctions? Ne serait-il pas une imposture, auprès de ses proches, de lui même?
Ce livre est le premier tome d'un diptyque nommé "Les Ténèbres", ça annonce la couleur, celui-ci nous met en contact direct avec la misère et la cruauté que peut nous offrir le monde, en abordant constamment la notion de 'liberté' (thème que l'on retrouvera dans les essais de Bernanos), de bien et de mal, le tout écrit d'une main de maître, dans un style indescriptible, nous offrant des réflexions profondes à l'aide d'un vocabulaire riche et original.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le concept de "L'imposture" est très simple. Un prêtre qui est aussi un auteur très important perd sa foi. Au lieu d'abandonner le sacerdoce, il continue parce qu'il aime les conforts et les privilèges de sa position. Des conséquences graves arrivent. Il est méchant avec un écrivain qui lui demande de devenir son confesseur ce qui pousse l'écrivain vers le suicide. Cependant les gaffes du protagoniste sont finalement assez rares. Il ne se fait pas démasquer et il réussit à rester dans le métier qui lui plait tellement.
On trouve dans "L'imposture" le talent très spécial de Bernanos de rendre la lutte pour l'âme d'un pécheur très dramatique comme un fusillade dans un Western ou un combat à sabre dans un roman cape et épée. Les portraits psychologiques des personnages sont excellents. Bref, "L'imposture" est un bon roman débutant de Bernanos qui possède tous les grands éléments des chefs-d'œuvre de la fin de sa carrière.
Malheureusement "L'imposture" a des défauts importants. Le déroulement de l'intrigue est très laborieux. Il y a un personnage important qui se présente seulement dans les vingt dernières pages du roman. Il y a un autre personnage important qui disparait beaucoup trop tôt.
"L'imposture" intéressera un amateur de Bernanos mais c'est un œuvre de jeunesse où l'auteur n'est pas au sommet de son talent.

[sch · Rating 2 out of 5]

2025 Dec. This is Bernanos's second novel. Decided to reread it after rereading UNDER SATAN'S SUN, his first. The extract about suffering that I made almost thirteen years ago is a natural development of a theme in the earlier book, in which the hero, Fr Donissan, has a dreadful on-again/off-again habit of self-mortification. The first novel ends with a triumphant, if complex, celebration of holy suffering and self-sacrifice. Let's see if, as my earlier notes indicate, the author does indeed lose his faith in 'holy pain.'

UPDATE: Finished, a very challenging novel. Think I misunderstood it a dozen years ago, but not because I understand it now. The best I can do to summarize the four tenuously connected chapters is to observe that they reveal (a) the author's bilious opinion of liberal Catholicism, and (b) the terrible success of the Devil. It does not at all do justice to the book to explain that the hero, Father Cénabre, is gradually possessed by an unclean spirit, and that another priest, Father Chevance, fails to recall him to grace.

2013 Jan. Bernanos is to the soul what Cormac McCarthy is to the hands. Both capture and reveal the workings and turnings and shapes of their object. The first fifteen pages of Chapter 1 are riveting, once you've got a handle on the two players. Much of what follows, especially the long Chapter 2, is obscure. But the psychological insights are worth the work, and the action is almost always compelling.

Perhaps the most striking thing in the novel is Fr. Chevance’s claim about the corruptibility of suffering: "What I see as the most precious thing the Lord gives us is our physical and spiritual sufferings. But over time, the use we put them to may have corrupted them. Yes indeed: man has soiled even the very substance of the divine heart, that is, suffering. The blood that flows from the Cross might kill us.” This is not a theme I associate with Catholic fiction, or any Christian fiction, really. It is unexpectedly echoed at the decidedly unedifying deathbed.

At times the characters are hardly credible, but then all of a sudden you forget your objections, because Bernanos is so good at pathos. The feverish narration of a death (most of the fourth and final chapter) is also impressive, and convincing in its weirdness.

[Lucas Magrini Rigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Começando com o que é bom, o estilo do escritor é bem fluído, dá uma sensação de estar correndo pelas linhas. É também verdade que ele o faz com excessivas descrições, às vezes divertidas e até precisas, mas outras nem tanto, seja pela distância temporal ou pela tradução.
Sobre o livro em si, os capítulos 1 e 3 falam sobre o padre Cénabre e são os mais interessantes, 2 é razoável por si mas no contexto do livro é quase totalmente inútil. O 4 e último é razoável também e faz mais sentido estar onde está. Meu principal problema com essas divisões são que o autor não fez um bom trabalho em conectá-las. Parecem livros distintos colados um ao outro, porque é difícil peceber a linha mestra que conecta toda a história.
O veredito é que recomendo pelo escritor mas não pelo romance. Talvez seus livros mais conhecidos sejam melhores.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modernist story of Catholic image and loss of faith.