Novel by Bernanos, written in Majorca and published 1936. It depicts the struggle of the unnamed priest against the evil, corruption, and apathy of the Picard village of Ambricourt. Helped by the neighbouring curé de Torcy and by the cynical yet courageous Dr Delbende, who commits suicide in the course of the novel, the curé, armed only with extraordinary resilience and a childlike innocence, resists the engulfing apathy and animality of the village and saves the local countess from the sin of despair. His death from cancer at the end of the novel elevates him from the level of innocence and heroism to that of sainthood, as he takes upon himself the sins of the village. Bernanos's most accomplished novel, it owes its power both to the pathos of the curé and the darkness of the village, and develops into a heroic struggle between the unprepossessing figure of the young priest and the evil around him. As such, it is not merely a major Catholic novel but an important contribution to the literature of heroism of the inter-war years.
[Nicholas Hewitt]
