Bernanos, schrijver.

Bernanos, schrijver. French novelist and essayist, whose masterpiece is Journal D'un Curé De Campagne (1936, The Diary of a Country Priest). Bernanos was not a priest but he is considered one of the most original Roman Catholic writers of his time. Unlike many contemporary French writers, Bernanos was an active supporter of the rightist Action Française movement and an ardent supporter of the French monarchy. Bernanos went in 1938 into self-imposed exile to Brazil, where he spent seven years. He returned to France in 1945, but for his disappointment he did not find any signs of spiritual renewal. As an essayist, Bernanos moved from right-wing nationalism to an undefinable political position, where both communists and the ultra-right occasionally could occasionally agree with him. He denounced Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain, appeasement in Munich, France's armistice with Germany, and the cruel aftermath of the liberation in 1944. For Bernanos writing was a divine calling, and he devoted himself to defending both Christian civilization and his mystical vision of an "ancienne France".