Chuyện mới về Mouchette - Nhật ký một Cha xứ vùng quê

by Georges Bernanos, Lê Hồng Sâm (Translator), Phùng Đệ (Translator)

Ở cả hai tác phẩm - hai tiểu thuyết hay nhất của Georges Bernanos - cái siêu nhiên như thấp thoáng, mỗi chi tiết bình thường như bất ngờ phát lộ điều huyền diệu, nghĩa ẩn giấu; và bao trùm lên hết thảy là một ánh sáng trong trẻo, tinh khiết đến lạ lùng...

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Religion, France, Catholic, Literature, Christianity

550 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

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

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diary of a Country Priest… What may a priest write about? He writes about his parish… He writes about himself… He writes about clergy…

My parish is consumed with boredom, that’s the word. Like so many parishes! Boredom is consuming them before our very eyes and we can do nothing about it. Some day, perhaps, the contagion will reach us, too, and we will discover this cancer in ourselves. It’s something one can live with for a very long time.

A voice of sadness… A voice of disappointment… A burden of poverty…

A child of poor parents who goes straight from a deprived house to the seminary at the age of twelve will never know the value of money. I even think it’s hard for us to remain strictly honest in business. It’s best not to gamble, however innocently, with what most lay people consider not a means but an end.

Words of despair… Words of compassion… Words of wisdom…
His walk of life isn’t easy… Corporeal ailments… Spiritual doubts… Even the best intentions may be a cause of dramas…

Of course, man is everywhere his own worst enemy, his own secret and insidious enemy. Wherever the seeds of evil are scattered, they are almost certain to germinate. Whereas it takes exceptional luck, phenomenal good fortune, for the smallest grain of good not to be stifled.

Religion is like a dilapidated chapel – mildew and mould on the walls, dust and cobwebs in the corners.

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Είναι πραγματικά ενα θαυμάσιο κομμάτι γραφής.
Ένα σεμινάριο ανθρωπιάς. Ένα ψυχογράφημα με ευφυέστατη δομή χτίζεται αργά και σταδιακά για την αδυναμία και την πενιχρότητα της ανθρώπινης φύσης.

Ο Bernanos ζωγραφίζει με μουντά και σκοτεινά χρώματα το πορταίτο ενός ανώνυμου νεαρού εφημερίου κάπου στη γαλλική επαρχία ενός ζοφερού κόσμου.
Το πορτραίτο ενός γνήσιου Αγίου.
Ενός ταπεινού, παθητικού και επιθετικού ιερέα που γράφοντας την νεκρολογία της ζωής του με μορφή ημερολογίου συνομιλεί με την πίστη, τον πόνο και την αγάπη μέσω του πάθους του, κυριολεκτικά και εικαστικά.
Η μορφή αυτής της γραφής επιτρέπει στον συγγραφέα να παρουσιάσει μια σειρά απο πολύ βαθιά και ουσιώδη θέματα καθώς και πνευματικούς προβληματισμούς που αποτελούν την διανοητική βάση της ιστορίας.

Το παθιασμένο ύφος που κηρύττει αξίες και ιδανικά με ένθερμη πεποίθηση αλλά και έντονα συγκινητική ταλαιπωρία είναι υποβλητικό και επηρεάζει τον αναγνώστη.

Η ψυχοφθόρα διαδικασία ανάγνωσης κερδίζει την κατανόηση του πόσο δύσκολο είναι να ζούμε επιφορτισμένοι μόνο με αγάπη ακόμη και στις πιο οδυνηρές αντιξοότητες.

Το ερώτημα που κυριαρχεί εξ αρχής και διαπνέει όλη την επιθανάτια εξομολόγηση του βιβλίου είναι το
«γιατί να βασανιζόμαστε καθημερινά και ανελέητα απο οδυνηρές αμφιβολίες, πλήξη, αντιπαλότητα, αίσθηση ματαιότητας, απελπισία και αδιάγνωστες κακοήθειες σε κάθε μορφή».
Η απάντηση δεν έρχεται ποτέ. Ίσως συμπερασματικά να προκύπτουν απαντήσεις καθαρά υποκειμενικές.

Η ανάγνωση του ίδιου του βιβλίου αναπόφευκτα περιβάλλεται απο μια ζοφερή ατμόσφαιρα που ταυτίζεται με τον εφημέριο.

Είναι μια πηγή έμπνευσης, προβληματισμού και εμπειρίας. Όμως η διάθεση καταθλιπτική και σπαρακτική αλλάζει μόνο με την κατανόηση και τη σταδιακή συνειδητοποίηση πως όλα οδηγούν σε ένα συμπέρασμα εκπληκτικό.

Ως ανθρώπινη μαρτυρία είναι ένα αξεπέραστο γραπτό, στην ευαίσθητη και εξαγριωμένη απεικόνιση του, μέσα στο κενό και τον αλαζονικό ενθουσιασμό της σύγχρονης ζωής όπου η ουσία της Χάριτος=ανιδιοτελούς αγάπης, λειτουργεί και κυριαρχεί συνεχόμενα.

Τα επαναλαμβανόμενα στοιχεία πίστης και θρησκευτικότητας ενισχύουν την πνευματική αναζήτηση και απέχουν τελείως απο κάθε μορφή δογματισμού.

Θα το χαρακτήριζα δύσκολο ανάγνωσμα που απαιτεί υπομονή και ικανότητα να ακούσεις την επιρροή του που δεν είναι καθόλου επιφανειακή.
Η φωνή του είναι εσωτερική και βαθιά σπαρακτική με μια προσπάθεια μετάβασης στην επιτυχημένη ευτυχία της ανθρωπότητας.

Οι τελευταίες 50 σελίδες αυτού του έργου είναι ένα αριστούργημα πνευματικής κληρονομιάς του 20ου αιώνα για κάθε «πιστό» αναγνώστη.


Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be described as one of the greatest Catholic novels of all time, but it is not a nice and joyous affair when you think of the pleasure being devoted to the faith brings to so many. This quiet introvert young Priest, one full of such good will but lacking in self-confidence, you can truly feel the weight of the world crushing down on his shoulders: his soul is as heavy as all the wet mud in his parish, where a constant rain is not enough to wash away the day to day torment as he goes about trying to fulfil his daily rounds. One could believe we might be next door to the melancholic happenings in a László Krasznahorkai novel when it comes to the dreary weather and the menacing undercurrent throughout the parish itself. There are the everyday encounters with the locals, who mostly look down on him as a weakling, solitary walks and restless nights; not helped by a serious stomach ailment: things would get even worse when he starts coughing up blood, which sees him living mostly on a diet of bread dipped in wine, and if there were anything major at its centre; if the priest himself were not, it's the vicious plot involving two sinners: a noblewoman getting her revenge on God for taking her son, and then the poisonous daughter looking to get back at her too: and somewhat trapped in the middle, the priest, before illness and death starting creeping into the narrative.

There is a great internal suffering, both physically and mentally, which was at times so powerful in its raw honesty through the thoughts and feelings and sometimes excessive self-critical musings the priest records in his diary, I could feel an emotional ache pulling me to a place I've rarely experienced whilst reading a novel: almost to the point where if tears were to form, it would be pointless to try and fight them. He is mocked, argued with, taken advantage of, and locked in deep conversation for a lot of the novel, which at times was too much to bare: one of most heart rendering scenes he gets ridiculed for crying in a moment of deep cogitation, making him look like a featherweight in a war of words with a heavyweight. Spiritually speaking, it's not just a simple case of good overcoming evil in the novel but rather faith trying to outwit boredom. Written at around the time when fascism was gathering strength over Europe in the mid 30s, I could feel a looming threat within of what lies in wait around the corner, whilst others, those who are deeply devoted to the faith, may be able to reach a higher, more hopeful and heavenly plain and not just the despairing sorrow that I felt. It's one of the most profoundly moving novels I've ever come across that's for damn sure. Robert Bresson's 1951 adaptation, along with the novel, I can see why both are considered masterpieces, and deserving of all the praise they can get.

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiritual Classic. Catholic Classic. Very Sublime.

Will try to write a lengthy review later.
________________________________________________________________________________

An Attempt at a Lengthy Review:

I titled it as an attempt, because I am very much certain that I will not be able to express what transpired in me as I read this novel.

I agree with my Goodreads Friend, Cathy in defining this novel as a 'deceptively quiet book' and that seems to be in fact very apt.

On the surface, it looks like a simple tale of an ordinary young Catholic priest and his priestly mission in a parish in the rural France. But that is only the deception. What is behind this simple tale is a narration of many spiritual struggles. It is here Bernanos proves to be more than a simple story teller.

Few of the spiritual struggles/theological questions analysed are:
1. What is Prayer? Is it possible to pray at all times with full faith?
2. What is the meaning of life/eternal Life in front of death?
3. What are the meanings of theological virtues - Faith, Hope and Charity?
4. Is God always present in our lives? Or do we find grace everywhere and every time?
5. The question of loneliness and priests; the question of celibacy and priests; priest's devotion to Our Lady; etc.

All these issues/struggles/doubts are analysed in a sublime way as only a great writer/spiritual guide/theologian who is illuminated by Divine wisdom can.

Bernanos was a devout Catholic and he wanted to be a priest. Thankfully, after a short period of time in seminary, he thought it was not his calling and so came out of seminary. He remained a devout Catholic and became a great writer. Surely, God knew what Bernanos was called for and Bernanos responded to that call. I am very much grateful to God and to Bernanos.

P.S. I have a tendency to collect some books as my 'death bed companions'- the books of my last days. Till now I have decided on one (Death Comes for the Archbishop) and now this will be added to that list.

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deceptively quiet book which starts off very slowly; though I knew it had to be going somewhere, it is easy to see why some readers miss its depths—I stopped and started it several times myself. And then...!

The gist of the story is an inexperienced, young priest arrives at his first parish, a little place out in the country and begins to keep a diary. We also learn he is poor, devout, idealistic and ascetic. None of these traits particularly endear him to his parishioners. He seems to have but one fellow cleric friend, a worldly priest, de Torcy, who would have him ‘toughen up’ and stand up for himself. Sometimes, I confess I felt a little exasperated with our curé myself. Other times, his self-effacing meekness brought out my motherly instincts and I wanted to help this young clergyman—who so many seemed to despise or take advantage of. What makes the saga so compelling is the gentle, uncomplaining way the new priest relates his many failures and humiliations. As his audience we see his kindnesses misunderstood and his simple mistakes turned against him. And yet he is determined to go out and visit all within his parish despite mounting health problems.

Most of the ‘action’ – if it can even be called that – in this novel occurs in the brilliantly constructed conversations between the curate and another character: a confused little girl, an atheist doctor, a long-grieving countess, her malicious teenage daughter, and a soldier of fortune to name a few. It is in these epic dialogues George Bernanos' reason for writing this testimony to faith is truly revealed.

It isn’t an action book. It’s much, much better than that! I can see why some – used to reading a different sort of literature – have discounted this book. It has to be read carefully, slowly and perceptively. Also, some background on the author, George Bernanos, and the French movement, positivism, would be extremely beneficial.

Highly recommended! One of the most faith-affirming books I’ve read this year!

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to get into this and then truly loved it. I can see why it is considered a Christian classic. The humility of this lovely, awkward, and young priest, his love of his people make this book real and lovely.

[piperitapitta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tutto è grazia.



Non so se riuscirò a scrivere un commento su questo romanzo.
Diario di un curato di campagna è un libro difficile: scritto in maniera difficile, per i suoi contenuti, e tradotto in maniera altrettanto difficile: ho letto che molti, su Anobii, ne consigliano la lettura nella traduzione di Paola Messori (ed. I Meridiani Mondadori) e non in quella "antica" di Adriano Grande che io e molti altri possediamo.
È un libro difficile dicevo (e non intendo dirmi con questo "quanto sei brava" per averlo letto!), di difficile comprensione, non solo per i contenuti, ma anche per la forma narrativa adottata da Bernanos, quella di un diario al quale il giovane parroco di un piccolo villaggio delle Fiandre affida i suoi pensieri, i suoi dubbi, le sue angosce e tutte le sue paure più nascoste.
Le riflessioni del giovane curato di campagna sono come un fiume in piena, ricche di passione, di pathos, di vere e proprie (a volte ahimé troppo "alte"!) dissertazioni teologiche, filosofiche, spirituali: sono la Fede che travolge non solo lo spirito, ma anche e soprattutto la persona nella sua carnalità e nella sua umanità.
Tutto è grazia, conclude Bernanos, tutto è grazia, afferma con voce flebile il giovane curato: la grazia è ovunque nelle nostre vite, anche in questo libro, basta saperla accogliere.

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κείμενο μεστό, βρίθον θεολογικών αναφορών, πλήρες νοημάτων. Η δομή τού ημερολογίου εξυπηρετεί την παράθεση μεταφυσικής φύσης ερωταπαντήσεων, ανησυχιών και συλλογισμών του καθολικού Μπερνανός. Στη λογική αυτή, καθίσταται ξεκάθαρος ο συμβολισμός: Ο εφημέριος ακολουθεί τα βήματα του Ιησού προς το μαρτύριο και τη λύτρωση, εν μέσω ενός απόντος ποιμνίου, μια έμπλεης πλήξης κοινότητας. Εκεί που ένας αμέτοχος μεταφυσικών αναζητήσεων αναγνώστης (όπως εγώ) και λάτρης της λογοτεχνίας στοχάζεται περί της ματαιότητας, ένας πιστός (ομού με τον συγγραφέα) ανακαλύπτει τη Θεία Χάρη.
Τούτου δοθέντος, το έργο αδικείται -κατά την άποψή μου- από πλευράς μορφής και όχι περιεχομένου. Συγκεκριμένα, πάσχει από το "προπατορικό αμάρτημα" των γαλλικών γραμμάτων και τέχνης εν γένει: φλυαρία, στόμφος, πληθώρα αφορισμών και ήρωες που ομιλούν την ίδια "γλώσσα" ως φορείς ιδεών. Οι διάλογοι συχνά ηχούν ψεύτικοι, μια αλληλουχία από "ατάκες", σίγουρα πνευματώδεις, φιλοσοφημένοι και εμβριθείς, αλλά για τον λόγο αυτό κάποιες στιγμές παράταιροι και ενίοτε κουραστικοί.
Το "Ημερολόγιο" συχνά δίνει την εντύπωση πως "πνίγεται" από το υπερχείλισμα των ιδεών του, ασφυκτιά υπό το βάρος της επαγγελίας του, "στομώνει" από τη ορμή του διαπρύσιου λόγου του.
Προφανώς, τα προηγηθέντα είναι απλά προσωπικές και υπερβολικά αυστηρές απόψεις - άλλοι αναγνώστες θα τα προσπεράσουν ως υπερβολές (και καλά θα κάνουν!). Ο "Εφημέριος", εν τέλει, παραμένει ένα εξαιρετικό ανάγνωσμα με ποιότητες και βάθος που ελάχιστα σύγχρονα έργα μπορούν να προσφέρουν.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The French are in equal parts anti-clerical and devout. Georges Bernanos and Francois Mauriac are excellent examples of the latter tendency. This is the second or third time I have read The Diary of a Country Priest -- and each time I find it has rocked my world.

There is a kind of imaginative religious novel in which a saintly joyful figure moves from strength to strength until he or she is ascended bodily into the heavens. Bernanos is not like that. His unnamed priest, who writes in the first person, is a sickly young man of around thirty who is parish priest in a poor agricultural parish in Northern France whose parishioners are spiteful at best.

He tries to see all his parishioners regardless of the cost to his health. During one such visit on a rainy day, he falls on the ground and vomits blood. The word goes around the parish that the priest is an alcoholic. Actually, he drinks wine in which bread is soaked (very symbolic, that) because he can't digest much of anything else.

When he sees a doctor toward the end, it is a young man who is injecting morphine into his veins so he could have the strength to see his patients -- because he himself is dying of a rare disease.

The end comes to our priest, as it does to all men. His last words are, "Does it matter? Grace is everywhere."

Diary of a Country Priest is perhaps a true study of sanctity in a hostile world. Perhaps Bernanos has given us a sense of reality in a troubled world which is more honest and true than what religious authorities would have us believe.

[Claire Admiral · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ 4 stars

[AiK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Роман уныл, также как и жизнь в приходе молодого священника. Между тем, в нем много ценных мыслей.

[Melina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δεν περίμενα να αγαπήσω αυτό το βιβλίο αλλά με κέρδισε. Η πολύ απλή ιστορία ενός εφημέριου στη γαλλική επαρχία του '30 μέσα από το ημερολόγιό του. Ο ανώνυμος πρωταγωνιστής είναι και υπήρξε πάντα φτωχός, πιστεύει ειλικρινά, είναι γεμάτος καλές προθέσεις και καθόλου αποτελεσματικότητα και βασανίζεται από την κακή του υγεία και τις αμφιβολίες του. Στο χωριό του όπως και παντού η αληθινή πίστη έχει μετατραπεί σε τυπικές και βαρετές χειρονομίες, κατηχητικό, κυριακάτικη λειτουργία χωρίς σκοπό. Η πλήξη είναι το τέλος της πίστης όπως σκέφτεται ο πρωταγωνιστής. Αφελής και αναποτελεσματικός αυτός, αλλά γεμάτος πίστη και ζήλο, σχεδόν υπερβατικος μέσα στην αρρώστια και την ανέχεια του ξυπνάει μέσα σε κάποιους χωρικούς έντονα συναισθήματα, από τη χλεύη ως την ειλικρινή μεταμέλεια σε μια απελπισμένη προσπάθεια να φανεί άξιος και να τους κερδίσει, πιστεύοντας ειλικρινά ότι αυτό που προσφέρει είναι ανεκτίμητο. Στον αντίποδα του άλλοι ιερείς της περιοχής από τους απλούς γραφειοκρατες και τους ισχυρούς που επιθυμούν μόνο την διατήρηση του status quo, έως τον μέντορά του, έναν άνθρωπο με βαθιά πίστη αλλά ταυτόχρονα σοβαρο, που με τη σταθερότητα του προσπαθεί να τον βοηθήσει. Περισσότερο φιλοσοφική ανάλυση πάνω στην έννοια της πίστης παρά μυθιστόρημα με πλοκή, τα περιστατικά του βιβλίου δεν είναι παρά οχήματα για τις σκέψεις και τις αγωνίες του πρωταγωνιστή, αλλά είναι γραμμένο με τέτοια θέρμη που σε παρασέρνει. Τέλος το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της έκδοσης αποτελείται από σημειώσεις και παραρτήματα, αλλά ενδιαφέροντα και άλλα όχι, για τον συγγραφέα (πιστό καθολικό) και το έργο του.

[Prickle]

A difficult novel to pin down, not least because it runs so contrary to our typical expectations of what a novel should be. Not that it's highly experimental, but it surely doesn't follow the Victorian blueprint of a novel, or read like some uplifting tale of good faith. If I may venture a comparison, I would find it rather similar to books like Henri Barbusse's Hell or even Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, though obviously with an added religious dimension. Personally, while I preferred another "Catholic novel" Silence which I read before this one as a whole, I think I have more to say about the one by Bernanos. The conflict in Diary of a Country Priest, which is very difficult to summarize or even give a single word to, is also much more relevant to me personally.

I blew through this novel myself, which in retrospect was somewhat of a grave mistake, as the book alternates between compelling and highly engaging dialogues to unrealistically long monologues which to me resemble a Rimbaud poem in translation than anything else, which is to say: hard to parse. That they got more than what they bargained for is what the ordinary reader will be struck by first when they read this. The complexity of each of the conversations cannot be overstated, which I think will inevitably result in readers just mechanically scanning the sentences rather than internalizing the arguments, with the final result being the great part of the novel sliding off like rain, leaving only vague impressions like it did with me unfortunately, but the parts that did affect me left me very humbled. And chiefly this impression will not be helped by another one of the defining features of the novel, which is its vagueness. It deliberately leaves a lot of key details unheard and leaves a lot to the ability to infer events by the reader. Though sometimes frustrating to a reader like me who reads history and biography, I recognize that it should be so for this novel, for the main conflict in it is a psychological one, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

Strangely, it is not even much of a sentimental novel, or rather it is one that does not want to manufacture artificial sentiment like 19th-century novels, and even sometimes deliberately undercuts moments that have to potential to become sentimental. Even children are not portrayed like near anything I've seen religious novels do before, though all this is largely to its benefit. For, without any clear indications of when a reader should be affected by a situation or phrase other than a few quite obvious moments (as the narrator's emotions can sometimes run very contrary to what we may be feeling), the parts that do ring true with us sound ever louder and clearer. Needless to say, one who is Christian and one who is not will come out with some quite contrary highlights for which they remember from the book, but I think that is a testament to the strange, unorthodox, but effective nature of this piece of fiction all the same.

Again like both Hell and Notes From Underground, while the thesis of each work may actually be summed up in a sentence or two to ensnare the casual consumer, the journey to that ultimate sentiment is winding, difficult, and will seem even neurotic. Unlike the two previously mentioned books however, there is a certain sense of resignation in our narrator here, which is very much a central theme in the novel. That is why I think the narrator remains eminently more compelling than the raving Underground Man or swooning narrator in Hell, so it strikes at us much more if we relate at all to the him. And full disclaimer, I am not religious nor have I watched the Bresson movie (though naturally I am very interested now to see how it's adapted), but like all great books of this type it strikes at a fundamental part of human nature and understanding, if one is allowed to hear it by being free of any pre-conceived prejudices. Besides, it should be obvious to anyone on this Earth that goodness and hope are not just uniquely Christian qualities, nor are suffering and despair.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Odiarsi è più facile di quanto si creda. La grazie consiste nel dimenticarsi. Ma se in noi fosse morto ogni orgoglio, la grazia delle grazie sarebbe di amare umilmente se stessi, allo stesso modo di qualunque altro membro sofferente di Gesù Cristo".

Un indimenticabile "Diario di un curato di campagna", che mi ha accompagnato fin dalla prima giovinezza. Un povero curato "macinato" dalla vita che alla fine di tutto, negli ultimi tristissimi istanti sussurra: "Che importa? Tutto è grazia".
Sì, tutto è grazia.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am indebted to the Close Reads podcast for helping me stick with and explore the complex depths of this profoundly Catholic novel. I can feel that the story is working its way into the structure of my thinking, into my very bones. I noticed a lot of parallels to Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. I hope to be able to write more in this review soon.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was one of those books that comes with a “guarantee.” But of course there is no such thing. Still, I’d read only glowing reviews and boy was I ready for a “triumphant experience.” But on p. 26 I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I was really reading about. On p. 54 the voice of the innocent and well-meaning young priest began to irk the shit out of me. On p. 55 I skipped ahead to see if anything would ever actually happen to dilute all the fluffy introspection and it didn’t look promising. On p. 64 I took the kitty to the well and drowned it.

Ach! If only I lived near a (English) library I’d run so much less risk of wasting money on books. The back cover says $15.95! I checked my order though, and thanks to Amazon, I paid “just” $11.48 for “The Diary of a Country Priest,” so I feel a few dollars better already. Plus I ordered it along with “The Shadow of Sirius” and “Blood Meridian,” both of which paid off. “Sirius” cost $10.88 but was really worth about $17.89, and “Blood Meridian” cost $10.20 but was easily worth $13.86. So actually I only lost 81 cents in this deal, making it easier to swallow.

I’m returning to this century now. Nice to see you.

[Francesco · Rating 4 out of 5]

il più bel romanzo sulla religione e sul tormento dai tempi de "le confessioni" di Sant'Agostino ... nessuno dopo Sant'Agostino ha scritto così... da leggere e da rileggere

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Journal of a Country Priest is the work of the strongly Catholic writer Georges Bernanos who gives the daily drama of a priest fighting in God's army against the devil for the salvation of human souls all the intensity that it so richly deserves.

The protagonist of this novel is a young priest who demonstrates that he possesses the true vocation. Despite growing up in poverty and being afflicted with a very serious illness, He does not flinch in his efforts to save the souls whose care has been entrusted to him. As the novel concludes: Grace is everywhere.

This is must reading for Catholics who need to be reminded periodically of the exceptional courage of so many of our priests and nuns.

For readers unfamiliar with the culture context of France between the two wars, it might be helpful to first watch Robert Bresson's movie of the same name which has been hailed as a masterpiece by such diverse critics as Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard. I read the book first. After seeing the movie, I read the book a second time and got much more out of it. As Canadian and a native speaker of French, I can assure any Anglophone that the culture of France is at times very murky to the outsider who must at times go to extra efforts to fully enjoy French literature.

Lu en francais.

[Argos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yirminci yüzyılların başları, iki büyük savaş arası, Fransa’nın kuzeyinde küçücük bir köy. Sosyalist bir papaz (Torchy papazı), tanrıya inanmayan bir doktor ve öğrendikleri ile duydukları arasında sıkışıp kalmış, duygu ve düşüncelerini günlüklerine yazan bir genç din adamı. Ayrıca drama yaşayan bir ailenin de sorununu sırtlayan, sağlığı pek de iyi olmayan ve çok şarap içen bir genç adam. Çözemediği en büyük mesele yoksulların açmazı. Çünkü İsa bir yoksul, tanrı yoksullara diyor ki “ bana inanır secde ederseniz herşey sizin, dünya malları da güç te”. Ama yoksulluk ve yoksullar en altta, tanrıya ister inansın ister inanmasın varlıklılar hep üstte, güç onlarda. Rüyalar, kabuslar, gel-gitler, daima birlikte olan isyan ve korkular, “tanrı beni görür ve yargılar” takıntısı, şüpheler, hesap soruşlar, cinsellik ve şehvet konusunda kafa karışıklığı ve sonuçta çözümsüzlükler. Önce tanrının varlığını sonra da kendi varoluşunu sorgulamalar.

Aslında klasik bir roman kalıbında değil, günceleriyle genç bir papazın “kendimce düşünceler”i demek daha doğru. Metin nedense okura soğuk, sert ve mesafeli duruyor. Bazı cümleleri birkaç kez okumak zorunda hissettim kendimi, aslında kısa kısa ve sade cümleleler, buna rağmen metne girmekte zorlandım, bu durum kitabın içerik olarak çok yoğun olan felsefi-teolojik yönünden ileri geliyor sanırım. Fikirden fikire, düşünceden düşünceye atlaması da okumayı zorlaştırıyor bazen sıkıcı oluyor. Hristiyan dini ve tanrısı hakkındaki bilgiler ve mesajlar da okuru boğacak kadar çok. Okunacak listesine alacaksanız yukarıda yazdığım zorlukları da hesaba katın lütfen.

[Ourania Topa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Δε χρειάζεται να είναι κανείς θρησκευόμενος για να εκτιμήσει τούτο το βιβλίο και τον κεντρικό του ήρωα. Δεν είναι άλλωστε τυχαίο - θεωρώ - πώς τα πρόσωπα που εκτιμούν τον ανώνυμο, ταπεινό εφημέριο του Αμπρινκούρ, που προσφέρει αδιαλείπτως και χωρίς δεύτερη σκέψη τον εαυτό του στους άλλους, είναι κυρίως αγνωστικιστές και άθεοι... Θα το ξαναδιαβάσω, εννοείται (είναι πράγματι βιβλίο βαρύ και ψυχοφθόρο και θέλει το χρόνο του) και θα δω και την ομώνυμη ταινία του Bresson. Τα σέβη μου στον κύριο Σταύρο Ζουμπουλάκη για το επίμετρο!

[The Frahorus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo sei anni ho riletto con piacere questo bel romanzo di Bernanos, dove ci descrive la vita e i turbamenti di un povero prete di campagna ammalato. E proprio la malattia sta al centro della storia: essa si presenta in varie forme: come noia esistenziale; come malattia in sé; come inettitudine. Il sacerdote protagonista non è capace di integrarsi in un mondo dominato dal denaro, dalla borghesia, dall'idea che la ricchezza equivalga al potere. Ma questa malattia è anche nell'anima: egli non si sente mai integrato. E la forma di diario che ci presenta Bernanos è una scelta voluta, perché sottolinea la lotta interiore che questo giovane sacerdote affronta. La scrittura è vista come un processo artificiale e artificioso, che si oppone alla preghiera, vista come spirito di pura accettazione. Se pregare significa abbandonarsi totalmente a Dio, alla sua volontà, e quindi accettare qualsiasi esperienza, scrivere al contrario significa affermare il proprio valore umano, dare la parola ai demoni della rivolta e della disperazione.

"Mentre scribacchio sotto la lampada queste pagine che nessuno leggerà mai, ho il presentimento di una presenza invisibile che sicuramente non è quella di Dio - piuttosto quella di un amico fatto a mia immagine, benché distinto da me. Di un'altra essenza... Ieri sera, questa presenza mi è diventata d'un colpo così tangibile che mi sono sorpreso a sporgere la testa verso non so quale ascoltatore immaginario..." (p. 29);

Rispetto al dottor Delbende, al dottor Laville e al signor Dufréty, il parroco di Ambicourt accetta la propria diversità, la propria condizione di diverso. Questo carattere distintivo si manifesta fin dalla prime pagine del diario: il parroco guarda la propria parrocchia e sente confusamente che essa non gli apparterrà mai completamente:

"Quanto è piccolo un paese! E questo paese era la mia parrocchia. Era la mia parrocchia, ma non potevo niente per lei, la guardavo tristemente inoltrarsi nella notte, scomparire... Qualche momento ancora, e non l'avrei più vista. Non avevo mai sentito così crudelmente la sua solitudine e la mia (p. 6).

Nonostante questa consapevolezza ciò non gl'impedisce di dedicarsi completamente alla propria missione. È in questo che si vede, soprattutto, la grandezza del personaggio.

[Davis Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the best Russian novel ever written in France. It's very slow-going, and you definitely have to be "in a mood" in order to be fully receptive to it. It will probably take longer for you to finish than a 300-page novel usually would. The long internal reflections and dialogues require a certain level of contemplation in order to really sink in. But you'll be rewarded with a beautifully tragic, lyrical novel that lies somewhere in between Dostoevsky, Camus, and Marilynne Robinson in its penetrating existential examination of suffering, grace, and what it means to serve God in an apparently indifferent world (it's often compared to Gilead and even directly referenced there for good reason, but Bernanos's novel is quite a bit darker and more ambiguous than John Ames's Midwestern placidity—one never gets the sensation that Ames is anyone other than who he tells us he is, but the priest carries some shadows). Reading my GR friends' reviews, I'm amazed by how many others brought up the same comparisons! There are some portions that are so mundane that I struggled to keep my attention from wandering, but other passages were so arresting in their insight or brilliant in their literary effect that I had to think on them for five minutes before continuing. It almost certainly needs at least two rereads with pen and highlighter in hand to really do it justice. A very fine, oft-underlooked entry in the 20th century canon of spiritually charged fiction.

Whether the passage below snatches away your breath or drives you away is probably a good litmus test as to whether you will appreciate this book:

"What a cunning mixture of sentiment, pity, tenderness, irony surrounds adolescence, what knowing watchfulness! Young birds on their first flight are hardly so hovered around. And if the revulsion is too intense, if the precious child over which angels still stand guard shudders with invincible disgust, what cajoling hands will offer him the basin of gold, chiseled by artists, jeweled by poets, while soft as the vast murmur of leaves and the splash of streams, the low-pitched orchestra of the world drowns the sound of his vomiting!" (123-124)

[Dominika · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first fifty pages I could not remember why I had loved it so much before. And then by the end I was weeping.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I actually found it incredibly difficult to understand. Some of it, I think, was that it was poorly translated. I read a 1962 edition that doesn't even cite a translator -- so many of the sentences were so convoluted as to be utterly obtuse. Poor translation or witless reader? I never could figure out why Mlle Chantal was such an angry bitch and why she insisted on tormenting the priest. What was her secret? Was the priest an alcoholic or just terminally sick? Gay? Why did M le Comte come to hate the priest? These are just some of the basic narrative issues I couldn't figure out. Forget the whole spiritual aspect--much of what the priest mused on and felt was incomprehensible to me as he described it. I can't help wondering if I'd have understood it if I had read it in French. Or maybe I'm just so spiritually challenged (in a God believing, Catholic way) that I can't comprehend it when it's described. All of that said, there were profoundly moving passages here and there, but over all I don't begin to know what I read. It's rather embarrassing actually--I feel so simple!

[Stephen Durrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Parisian Georges Bernanos (1888-1948) is one of the last century's greatest Catholic novelists, and this is probably his most admired book. As the title indicates, this is a fictional "diary" of a young, very ill, priest who is trying manfully to administer well to his small countryside parish. He struggles with faith, the role of suffering, the nature of evil and almost every other major religious topic as he strives to maintain his integrity and faithful stewardship over a very problematic "flock." His relationships with several of the women in his parish are particularly challenging and force him to consider lust and the role it plays in the religious struggle. It is difficult to do justice to the seriousness and profundity of this book. I hope one day soon to attempt a short essay on Catholic fiction as exemplified by George Bernanos's The Diary of a Country Priest and Francois Mauriac's The Viper's Nest. What I intend to argue is that the very sense of complexity, cynicism, and even darkness they are willing to portray is what Mormon literature has never dared to touch, at least so far as I know, and thus precludes the latter from ever being more than mediocre.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sin against hope — the deadliest sin and perhaps also the most indulged. It takes a long time to become aware of it, and the sadness which precedes and heralds its advent is so delicious. The richest of all the devil's elixirs, his ambrosia.

Hope vs. despair. Does what I do matter? Can I make a difference in this world? Why is life so hard? Will I feel trapped forever?

Word pictures: boredom is a form of aborted despair; sterility of souls; wounds of the soul giving out pus and wounds and gangrene.

Bernanos's form of "Do the next thing": Go on with your work. Keep at the little daily things that need doing, till the rest comes. Concentrate.

While this book is what I call "tough-sledding", it rewards the plodder with quotes that make you put the book down and look at the air. If you question if this is a book you'd want to read, I recommend reading the quotes (51, as of this writing) on Goodreads.

And the best quote is the last: Grace is everywhere.

3.5 stars

[Sindre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, sublime. It’s not a quick or easy read, but very rewarding. I will have to re-read it though, at one point, in order to gain more from its richness.

[Jarrett DeLozier · Rating 5 out of 5]

GRACE. IS. EVERYWHERE.

CHILLS.

[Rozzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while alone in Tokyo in November, 1975. Brrrr. The book sets forth in living black-and-white an aspect of France that many disregard: the terribly self-punishing, rigid, miserable, very November (of one's soul, so to speak) French Catholicism of times not all that very much gone by. I've never got it straight. Is THIS the Jansenist strain, Port-Royal and all that, or the other, more papistical orthodoxy? Shared with all too many Irish. Something severe, drizzling, gray, wintery, absolutely self-denying if not self-torturing. Something that makes all the seventeenth century French Jesuit martyrs more comprehensible, as they continued to celebrate mass with all or perhaps just eight or nine of their fingers having been hilariously amputated by the Hurons or the Iroquois. Something you can feel sweating coldly from the walls of the narrow streets of Lourdes even at the best, freshest, most lovely time of the year.

Saw the movie on Turner Classics quite recently. Not a patch on the book. Bresson tried hard, but he just didn't make it. How would one transfer Bernanos in this book to film? A film is by its nature anchored in the fleshiness of the realest possible life. And this work demonstrates how that fleshiness can be and is refused and rejected. In favor of a complete identification with what is, after all, a God whose essence appears to be very human suffering. I'm saddened. I too believe in God. But by no means the God of Bernanos. No. Not the God of so many French Catholics. This strain, this slice of French being is essential for knowing and feeling France and its peoples. It's been around a long time. But the French over the past fifty years have been voting with their feet. And they have decisively voted against this aspect of their history.

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really know what I was expecting when I started this book (which I picked up by chance at Oxfam) and it is difficult to give any definite opinion on it even now. 'Sad' is the word that best describes it, I think, and I would not recommend it to anyone suffering from depression or convinced of the superior value of positive thinking. It is rather vague in parts (and thus not always easy to follow) and too theological for most people in our secular times.
One commentator connected the author of this book with Mauriac, which is interesting, but, beyond their shared interest in Catholicism, I find them very different, particularly as Mauriac seems to me much less pessimistic and cannot even really turn his reader against Thérèse or convince him/her that she is destined for damnation. Whereas the young priest in this book could not create even a spark of optimism in me, either in terms of his emotional well-being (zero) or his ability to fulfil what he considers his religious duties.
Despite all these caveats, I must admit that I enjoyed this book enough to want to return to it in a year or two and feel that it is a 'story' I will not forget. I suspect it is a book that becomes more fascinating each time one reads it.