Léon Morin, prêtre

by Béatrix Beck

«- Monsieur l'abbé, je voudrais vous dire quelque chose, articulai-je avec difficulté.Il leva vers moi des yeux attentifs.- Voilà. Je suis flambée.- Vous êtes flambée ?- Oui. Je me convertis. Je suis à vos ordres.Morin parut consterné...- Vous êtes peut-être un peu trop fatiguée, ou sous-alimentée, ces temps-ci.- Non, je ne suis pas fatiguée, et on vient de toucher des pommes de terre...- Elle est complètement braque, cette fille, murmura Morin.»

Genres: France, Classics, French Literature, Fiction

215 pages, Paperback

First published December 24, 1952

About the author

Béatrix Beck was a French writer from Belgian origin.

She is the daughter of the poet Christian Beck. After several jobs, she became the secretary of André Gide, he encouraged her to write about her experiences: her mother's suicide, the war, her poverty, etc.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beatrix Beck is another author I never heard of until I read A Novel Bookstore, which is the English translation of the French novel Au Bon Roman. In that work many authors are mentioned, predominately French authors, whom are considered as writing 'good' novels. My interest in authors who are supposed to be good and who I never heard of, was of course piqued and I set out to find some of them in my local library system. Sadly, many of the authors either aren't translated into English or only have a book or two translated, or just happen to have a book or two available in the Queens Library system. This book happens to be one of the ones that was available (although to be totally honest this isn't one of the actual novels mentioned in the book by Beck, but it was the only one available).

The Passionate Heart is a crappy title. The original French title is Leon Morin, pretre, which is the same title of the movie directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and soon to be released as a part of the Criterion Collection. The title takes it's name from the priest who plays a major part in the novel, and while there may be some passionate hearts in the book that title makes the book sound like a romance or something. It's not. Rather it's about two of my favorite subjects (which love isn't one of them): Nazi's and religion.

It's set in a small town in Occupied France. The narrator is a widow who had been married to a Jewish man and still has his last name. She also has a daughter that she has hidden away out in the country because of her father's religion. The narrator isn't an active member of The Resistance, but she does help to hide Jewish families and forge documents to help people. The start of the story is a picture of everyday life under the Nazi's and her manner of dealing with the way that life goes on under the ever present eye of the German invaders would have made a great book in itself but she soon the book shifts to add a wonderful crisis of dis-belief into the narrative mix.

In an immature scene (the widower is young, the age is never given but my guess is she's in her twenties) the narrator visits a Catholic Church in order to shock a priest. She is like many a young person with 'radical' beliefs and thinks that her sloganeering is more shocking than it really is. It's a scene that reminded me of teenage vegetarians who think that they are going to rock your whole world view by pointing out that the hamburger you're eating is actually made of a cow. Maybe that kind of snarky observation works on angering their parents who are at their wits end with dealing with their little brat of a teenager but most people will just roll their eyes and continue munching own on ground up Bessie. In the book she goes into a confessional booth and when the priest says whatever it is that priests say to start of confession she tells him that, "religion is the opium of the masses', and (man, why did I return this book already to the library, I'd like to have his actual response here, it's really good) he the priest replies something like, than religion needs to change. She wasn't expecting to be one-upped by the priest nor to be invited by him to come visit him at the rectory to talk more about her dis-blief.

The rest of the novel centers around her relationship with the titular priest, who turns out to be an unorthodox logician whose view of religion forces her to reexamine her atheistic convictions. Many of the points brought up by the priest in this book were very interesting to me, not that it got me wanting to start going to church or anything, but it's the kind of rigorous thinking about the possibilities contained in religion that I like to mull over in my head. The priest was a sort of Dietrich Bonhoffer type, the sort of priest who can be thought of as a heroic and not make you ashamed to admit admiration for even if you disagree with the general basis of his beliefs. It's also the kind of religion that if it were actually practiced by a majority of people would make it a benefit to humanity instead of being myopic and dividing with it's underlying and ever present message of it's us versus them and we better fucking destroy them so our sense of self won't be threatened.

I thought that I might go on and on about some of the actual points in this novel that I found interesting from a theological point of view, but I think I would just make a muddle of things and my writing skills have been in rapid decline lately so I'm not going to try to bore people with too much more of my barely literate ramblings. I'd recommend people go read this book, but I don't know if it's too readily available, the edition I read came out in the 1950's and from my scant research it doesn't look like it's been re-issued since. Instead, why don't you watch the movie? I haven't seen it yet, but it's being re-released by Criterion and it has a good director and I have a feeling it's going to be at least slightly Robert Bresson-ish, at least in it's subject matter.

[Aleksandra Fatic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kad sam ukačila stil, pobožno sam se zalijepila za knjigu i njene likove (ha, nego kako)! Dokaz da je najbitnije s nekim se naći na intelektualnoj razini i da je to podloga najiskrenije ljubavi, ma koliko nekad bila nemoguća i da ćemo u takvom odnosu naći najbolji odmor i u najvećim brigama! Muzička podloga mi nije bila pjesma Pitala sam popa, a ni Kaluđeru moj, iako bi vjerovatno bile prikladnije od moje izabrane tj.Kneza i njegove Pričaj sa mnom! 5⭐️ za Beatris, sjajan početak godine, uživala sam!

[Weltschmerz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na momente prezabavno. Fleabag za bumere.

[Barrote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus un 3,5 étoiles qu'un 3. Le style est enlevé, les dialogues très bons et les personnages drôlement croqués. Une assez belle profondeur pour un roman court, ça me semble toutefois léger pour un Goncourt.
La première moitié du livre met en scène des personnages juifs dont la caractérisation et la description sont sacrément empreintes d'un antisémitisme culturel très "première moitié du 20e siècle" (ça m'a rappelé la biographie de Virginia Woolf, lue en début d'année. Elle aussi mariée à un juif était pétrie d'un antisémitisme très typique de la bourgeoisie anglaise de son époque, tout en exécrant l'antisémitisme nazi. C'est l'effet que me fait Beatrix Beck).

[isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Morin m'avait dit qu'un catholique n'est tenu de croire qu'aux points énoncés par le symbole des apôtres. Pas une parole, dans cette prière, ne promettait que la vie éternelle réunirait ceux qui s'étaient connus. Même si cette réunion avait lieu, seule mon âme, dépouillée de son corps, verrait l'âme de mon guide. Après la résurrection de la chair, je n'aurais plus qu'un corps glorieux, incapable à jamais de s'abîmer en un autre et de transmettre la vie. Je jouirais de l'immortalité, mais je ne pourrais plus y appeler de nouveaux êtres. La perte était irrémédiable. Je t'offre, Seigneur, ce manque privilégié, devant lequel même le ciel reste impuissant."

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in French, prompted by one of my French students. I have to say, I had never heard of Béatrix Beck before, or never paid attention to her name (a Goodreads reviewer says her name is mentioned in A Novel Bookstore!), though she won the Goncourt!

Her writing is direct, abrupt even. I found The Passionate Heart to be rather on the dark side, not only because it is set on the background of the French Resistance, but mostly because the faith journey Beck describes never really brings any joy to the one who goes through it. Barny is presented almost liked trapped on her conversion journey, which she embarked as a quasi joke, or at least full of sarcasm towards the Church.

The figure of the priest is very rich and ambiguous: is he really trying to...

Go here to read the rest of my review:
http://wordsandpeace.com/2012/11/21/i...

[Zo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire sensible et très touchante avec des magnifiques dialogues. Le film illustre parfaitement le livre. J’aurais aimé un peu plus d’introspection mais cela est peut-être attendu comme contribution de la part des lecteurs/spectateurs?!

[M. Lavinia of the Angels · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching its film adaptation by Jean-Pierre Melville starring Jean-Paul Belmondo (as Léon Morin) and Emmanuelle Riva (as Barny) I was so fascinated by their characters that I had to read the novel.
After some research I managed to get hold of a 1953 american edition.
The focus of the story is the relationship between Barny and Léon, whose discussion that continues throughout the novel offers two levels of interpretation: one theological and one personal.
One of the many examples of this particular aspect can be found in the dialogue below:


"It's strong stuff. It's original. While I was reading it, I believed in God, or so I thought."
"Luckily you got over it, eh?" he said with a smile.
"How do you expect me to believe without any proofs?"
"There's no need for proofs. Belief in God is not a scientific, cerebral certainty, as you seem to imagine. Belief in God is a harmony of our entire being. If you love someone, you love without proofs. It is the same with faith."



The main themes are faith, repression, atheism and personal relationships, but if analysed more in dept there are other interesting and complicated themes brought in by the relationship between them, like the possibility for Barny to get out of the "role of the woman" and pursue her fascination with androginity, the manipulative characteristics of Léon and his relationship with women, and others.
It's a really interesting story and some of the passages are astonishing and moving.

[LONGLIVEVIV · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite ever novels. It's about an at first mangled, spiritual sort of love. I never found it unconvincing - I didn't think it was trying to convince. The writing is beautiful, compelling and original.

‘Aren't you ashamed of yourself?’
Still on my knees in front of him, I began to laugh:
‘It is my conscience that told me to make you lose
your temper: I am instrumental to your sanctification.’
‘It’s possible.’
He gazed for a moment at the glowing embers in the
stove. Then he said:
‘And also you're instrumental to your own sanctification.’

[Kaja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it much more than I expected.
I read it very quickly, and I really liked the character of the priest Leon. He is truly unusual, and I especially liked the way he responds to criticism directed at the Church. It was truly interesting to read and to reflect on the main heroine, who went through many inner changes and various events brought by World War II. I really liked the fact that the main heroine is true to herself, without any false kindness or pretended understanding of things she doesn’t actually understand.
All in all, I really enjoyed it!

[Hameau_des_huitres · Rating 2 out of 5]

j'ai beaucoup aimé certains persos (dont morin), mais le côté reveil religio-mystique de la protagoniste c vrmt pas ma tasse de thé g pas trop saisi les enjeux...

edit: ah oui par contre un art du dialogue au top

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising how books considered as classics can be so different from expected.
Not at all the story i thought it was. But all the better.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable.

[Xenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5

[Sesili · Rating 3 out of 5]

možda neće biti najbolja knjiga objavljena u štriku, ali za sada je najzabavnija.

#pitalasampopa

[Cassian Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am eager to read this book, the source of Melville's film with Jean-Paul Belmondo as a young priest and Emmanuelle Riva as a Communist during the Second World War.

I found this book to be quite remarkable. Beck writes directly, simply, letting the details pile up until characters and situations take on their fullness. The dialogue of the book is the basis for the dialogue of the movie -- except for the famous moment when, in the book, the priest admits that, were he not a priest, he would marry Barny, and, in the movie, the question is left unanswered as Belmondo slams down the ax. Perhaps the movie's answer is just as eloquent.

I am going back to list quotes for a Theology of Leon Morin.

[LRH · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the realistic depiction of the day to day life in ww2 France. Here, it’s not the good fighting the evil seen in most medias, rather we are greeted with a nuanced picture of how ordinary folks are reacting towards the occupiers. The sexual side of France’s WW2 experiences is something that we avoid acknowledging even till this day, yet it is central to the story.

[Scull17 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, for sure.

(The Priest translated by Constantine Fitzgibbon)