This novel is written as selections from the diary of a country parish priest in an obscure French town. The town is humble and commonplace--rather drab, rainy, nothing glamorous or pretty about it, and the parishioners are very ordinary people: small businessmen, farmers, housewives, mischievous children, borderline juvenile delinquents. There is a count and his family, but even they are nothing special in how they live and their family problems. The young priest, who is seen as little more than a boy by some of the older parishioners, finds ways to help various members of his flock grow closer to God while living mundane lives that seem to have nothing of the sublime or holy about them. It is also about the young priest's interactions with fellow priests of nearby towns, an atheist doctor, an old friend from seminary who has abandoned his vocation, and his own bodily infirmities, which turn out to be much more serious than originally suspected. It is a very beautiful book, full of faith, hope and perseverance.
It's the first Bernanos book I've ever read, and I look forward to read more by this author.
Ce roman est une collection d'extraits d'un journal d'un curé d'un petit village obscur. Son village est assez banale, les gens, ordinaires: paysans, petits commerçants, enfants. Il y a un comte et sa famille, mais il n'y en a rien d'exceptionnel. Le jeune prêtre, que les villageois voient comme peu plus qu'un garçon, essaie d'encourager quelques-uns de ses paroissiens de vivre d'une manière plus chrétienne dans un monde qui n'a rien de visiblement sacré. Dans le journal nous apprenons aussi de ses interactions avec des autres curés, un médecin athée, un ancien ami de séminaire qui a abandonné sa vocation, et les infirmités de son propre corps, dont le diagnostic est bien plus sérieux qu'il attendait. C'est un histoire plein de foi, d'espoir et de persévérance .
C'est le premier des livres de Bernanos que j'ai jamais lu, et je voudrais en lire davantage.
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