Bernanos, Georges (1888–1948)

French writer. His strongly Catholic viewpoint is expressed in, for example, his Journal d'un curé de campagne/The Diary of a Country Priest (1936). His theme is almost always the struggle for the soul of the individual between the forces of good and evil, which he portrays with originality and intense conviction.

Bernanos contributed articles to minor periodicals and, at 38, took up literature as a career with his first novel, Sous le Soleil de Satan/The Star of Satan (1926). L'Imposture/The Imposture (1928) is the portrait of the inner soul of an unbelieving priest, followed by La Joie/Joy (1929). Les Grands Cimetières sous la lune/Diary of My Times (1938) is a polemic of remarkable power against Spain's General Franco and his followers. Bernanos's last work was Monsieur Ouine/The Open Mind, not published in full until 1955.