Bernanos' 'Diary of a Country Priest' w/Larry Chapp

Today on the show, Dr. Larry Chapp joins me for our monthly conversation, this time about George Bernanos' masterwork novel, "The Diary of a Country Priest." We talk about Bernanos' unlikely hero, the incisive predictions of our modern Church, and the protagonist's recognition that "grace is everywhere."

[DonalLeader]

This was a great podcast where the great existential themes of evil, goodness and death are explored. Studied this text in my university French course in Ireland about forty years ago. It was relevant for the emerging Ireland of that time, prefiguring the rabid secularism of today.

[danihans]

A masterpice indeed...thanks for sharing thiis.
Regards from Argentina.

[DeadNetCord]

Thank you for this insightful video. Here in Poland this book isn't talked enough so I was glad to find your discussion.

[georgeallen]

I read the book and saw the film. I kept the book by me for years, but didn’t dare read it again. The film has that French “romance of disaster” quality that’s so admirable and aristocratic you can’t help but love it. Most gardens are full of bugs, however, even that of Versailles, which is eventually repellent.

[benhutchinson]

Great episode. Geez, that "contractual Catholicism" point made my heart physically hurt - perfectly describes my failure in my own life.

[stephengriffin]

Hi. when I saw the name Bernanos I had to stop. I won't go into detail, to protect the privacy of a Communist friend who had something of a spiritual experience after reading The Diary, a copy he stolen from a church book rack. It was always his favorite book. He had just been released from jail -the Party bribed a judge to get him released. My friend read it right through the night in a Hayes-Bickford's restaurant. It's funny how we agree on the different parts of the book. I remember especially the deathbed statement tout est grace. The English translation of the time was true to the French and the spirit. The opening line, my parish is a parish like all the rest should be kept in mind when reading the book. The conversation between the countess and the nameless cure was the highlight of the book I think most would agree. The director of the movie, Bresson I believe, didn't do a very good job in bringing it to the screen. I must disagree that the cure was not educated. His success in the seminary was referred to more than once, along with his intelligence and poverty. Another very powerful scene is between the girlfriend of the fallen-away priest and the cure. She too was dying and her description of what heaven would be like for her, not the happy-happy days we all hope and expect for, is telling.

The book is really a masterpiece. I believe it was Malraux who opined in the preface to the French edition that one could consider Bernanos the greatest novelist of the twentieth century or one may not. In regards to translations, on the cover of the French paperback, Camus described Bernanos as an ecrivain de race. Couldn't figure out what it meant. Finally, a Lebanese friend told me that it meant a thoroughbred horse. One more point, Bernanos somewhere talks about the evil that one would see when the doors of the monasteries are blown open. We've all seen, see, that. The Diary is a book I always look for whenever I go into a bookshop. Seldom see a copy tho. I wouldn't recommend Bernanos's other books, too depressing for the average reader. I'll stop here. spoiler alert and all that.

[giovannirogers]

Diary of a country preist was recomended to me. I'm not the most educated guy (especially when it comes to literature and theology) so I was struggling to understand the point of it all and I'm afraid most of the book went over my head. This video helped me a lot, I'm now going to give it another go

[georgeallen]

In his intro to Simone Weil’s The Need for Roots T.S. Eliot remarks how inconvenient to society are those we call saints.

[collisioncoursewiththecosm]

Ultimately our interest for the truth (that ultimately all is God's grace) is itself a grace of God alone. Bernanos at the beginning of the Diary of a Country Priest addresses this issue with spiritual boredom. This is why there is no use for the priest in this regard. The priest was out of a job from the moment he "signed up" so to speak. There is nothing for the priest to do to solve the problem of spiritual boredom which is just the surface of the suffering that seems so insurmountable in the lives of the characters in the story. This is because only God dictates their attention, their direction of devotion, their interest for the truth. All is Grace means to see everything that has happened in the past as the way the universe was unfolding, in which nobody is responsible. When the priest acknowledges that “all is God’s grace”, then there is no sin, and so there is no suffering for the priest to take from the world. He has both accomplished everything and nothing.

[DonalLeader]

Still have my much annotated version in French. A book that defines a time and a culture as well as being one of the most intimate psychological portraits in literature. It is up there with Graham Green’s The Power and the Glory. I have read Mauriac as well. By the way I think Grace is All is the better translation. The word ‘Tout’ in French has strong philosophical resonances. A better rendering might be: All there is Is Grace. We live in a grace saturated Universe. Once you say that you are in Balthasar territory!

[eleanorsopwith]

You both need to read the book again but much more closely. You didn't mention Cure de Torcy, the nephew of the countess or the girlfriend of the friend Louis. Very important characters. The dialogue with the nephew is very important indeed. Every word in the book counts. It should not be read quickly.