Georges Bernanos

Georges Bernanos (February 20, 1888 – July 5, 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. Of Catholic and monarchist leanings, he was a violent adversary to bourgeois thought and to a certain defeatism that led, in his view, to France's defeat in 1940.

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He was born in Paris into a working-class family. Bernanos served in the first world war as a soldier. Despite his anti-democratic and anti-bourgeois learnings, he was able to see the danger in fascism and nazism before World War II broke out in Europe. He emigrated to South America 1938, and stayed there till 1945, for most of the time in Brazil, where he tried his hand at managing a farm. His three sons returned to France to fight when World War II broke out.

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After the liberation, Charles de Gaulle invited him to return to France, offering him a post in the government. He did return, but did not participate actively in French political life.

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He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

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His writings are sharply critical of modern society and its inroads into personal liberty, both through government and through technical development. He was an isolated figure, but maintained a very high reputation among his fellow-writers in France.

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Principal works:

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• Sous le soleil de Satan 1926
• L'imposture 1927
• La joie 1929 (winner of the Prix Femina)
• La grande peur des bien-pensants 1931
• Jeanne relapse et sainte 1934
• Un crime 1935
• Journal d'un cur? de campagne 1936 (winner of the Grand prix du roman de l'Acad?mie fran?aise)
• Nouvelle histoire de Mouchette 1937 (later made into the film Mouchette by Robert Bresson)
• Les grands cimeti?res sous la lune 1938
• Scandale de la v?rit? 1939
• Nous autres fran?ais 1939
• Lettre aux anglais 1946 (originally published in Rio de Janeiro in 1942)
• La France contre les robots 1947 (originally published in Rio de Janeiro in 1946)
• Fran?ais, si vous saviez (collection of articles written between 1945–1948) 1961
• Le chemin de la Croix-des-?mes 1948
• Dialogue des carm?lites 1949
• Les enfants humili?s 1949
• Un mauvais r?ve 1950
• Monsieur Ouine 1950
• La libert?, pour quoi faire ? 1953
• Combat pour la v?rit?; Correspondance in?dite 1904-1934 1961
• Combat pour la libert?; Correspondance in?dite 1934-1948 1961
• La vocation spirituelle de la France (collection of articles assembled by J.-L. Bernanos) 1975
• Les pr?destin?s (includes "Sainte Dominique" 1926, "Jeanne relapse et sainte," and "Fr?re Martin" 1943) 1983
• Lettres retrouv?es. Correspondance in?dite 1904-1948 1983

February 20: February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years....

1888: 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). In Germany, 1888 is known as the 1888 Year of Three Emperors....

July 5: July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining....

Georges Bernanos related Images and Photos (experimental)

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