Novel
The Diary of a Country Priest
Journal d'un curé de campagne
Georges Bernanos · 1936
Synopsis
Just out of the seminary, a young priest receives his first parish, Ambricourt, a village in the north of France. In a schoolboy's notebook he keeps a journal of his days, his doubts and his faith. The parish seems to him eaten away by boredom, the parishioners remain indifferent, and the count and countess, at the château, have drifted away from religion. In fragile health, he lives on little more than bread soaked in wine, and seeks advice from an older priest, the curé de Torcy.
Context
The novel appeared from Plon in 1936; it has since been reissued by Le Livre de Poche and by Albin Michel. It takes the form of the diary that the young priest keeps from day to day: his doubts, his faith, his discouragements and his efforts among his parishioners are known only through what he writes of them, with no voice other than his own. The narrative sets against this priest a poor parish and an aristocracy that has turned away from the faith.
Who it is for
A little over three hundred pages in a paperback edition, in the form of a diary. The subject is religious, but the book can be read without any theological knowledge.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prix du roman of the Académie française in 1936. In 1951 Robert Bresson made a film from it with the same title.
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