IMPERILED SOULS: METAPHORICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SPIRITUAL CONFUSION IN GEORGE BERNANOS'S JOURNAL D'UN CURÉ DE CAMPAGNE

To a large extent, Georges Bernanos's Journal d'un curé de campagne is an allegory for the difficulty the devout may have in maintaining their spirituality in modern society. The novel's protagonist, the Curé d'Ambricourt, a young priest in his first parish, must confront the spiritual distress of his flock while himself struggling with a loss of faith. His situation is further complicated by the debilitating physiological symptoms produced by an undiagnosed gastric tumor. The diary is essentially the priest's attempt to cure himself of his inability to pray, a sort of "examen de conscience" ("an examination of conscience" [1036; 7]).1 or even self-psychoanalysis, because in it he chronicles his difficult interactions with others and the resulting toll on his mind and his body. Tragically, while the Curé d'Ambricourt carries on a dialogue with himself in writing his diary (which he hopes will be a substitute for prayer, or even constitute a form of prayer in and of itself), the act of writing does not seem to alleviate his suffering. In fact, he believes that his spiritual questioning and his inability to pray threaten his immortal soul, and these negative feelings culminate in the belief that "Dieu me voit et me juge" ("God sees and judges me" [1117; 111]).

While numerous critics have studied in depth the malady from which the Curé d'Ambricourt suffers, none have yet focused on the way the protagonist / narrator's psychological and physiological pain manifests itself in the diary.2 An examination of the novel's imagery reveals that the priest uses the physiological symptoms of his undiagnosed malignancy as metaphors for the spiritual suffering he is experiencing as well as for the psychic agony he perceives in his parishioners. This in itself is not surprising since physiological symptoms are commonly used as metaphors for emotional anguish. However, what makes the imagery in Journal d'un curé de campagne unique is its strong resemblance to traditional descriptions of demonic obsession, a phenomenon in which a demon controls an individual without entering his or her body (O'Donnell). These diabolical metaphors underscore the gravity of the priest's spiritual crisis while also illustrating Kathryn Vance Staiano's observation that illnesses "explain, exploit, and reinforce cultural, political, social, and technological models of the world" (9). Staiano's premise explains the interdependence of mind and body in the representation of the Curé d'Ambricourt's terminal disease and spiritual confusion, for the priest's theological training determines not only how he sees his distressed body but the way he describes it in his diary. Given the protagonist / narrator's vocation, his understanding of the etiology of his pain is not surprising since, as Jean Starobinski notes, Christian tradition "[invite] à identifier péché et maladie" ("begs the comparison between sin and illness" [218]). According to this tradition, physical suffering is, if not a punishment for sin, then at least one of its "symptoms," a notion that plays into the priest's interpretation of his physiological pain.

At first glance, an emphasis on diabolical imagery in a novel in which the protagonist / narrator is a Catholic priest may seem unconventional. However, as Theodore Fraser explains, Bernanos and his predecessors Barbey, Bloy and Péguy were "Catholic visionaries whose literary universe depicts as its primary reality the eternal conflict between God and Satan" (21). Fraser goes on to say that the fictional world that Bernanos creates "is without meaning unless one takes into account the real presence of Satan, who, as mighty ruler of the vast kingdom of this world, unceasingly works to undermine the grace and power of God to redeem sinful humanity" (21). The author of Journal d'un curé de campagne was convinced of Satan's omnipresence, on one occasion telling an interviewer that "I have seen the devil, as I see you, since my childhood" (qtd. in Hoehn vol. 1, 48). Bernanos's preoccupation with evil is mirrored in the Curé d'Ambricourt's obsession with what he interprets as signs of Satan's influence, signs that manifest themselves in the behavior and words of three of his parishioners, the suicidal Chantal, her embittered mother, the Countess, and the sexually precocious Séraphita Dumouchel. Strikingly, these three women exhibit a dual nature in that they present a spiritual challenge to the priest while also providing him with insight into his own crisis of faith.

It is clear from the outset that the Curé d'Ambricourt's inability to pray is the primary source of his psychological anguish. This devotional shortcoming is especially distressing in that prayer is ostensibly the principal occupation for one of his calling. The protagonist / narrator feels that his prayers are not heard, and his belief that God has abandoned him in turn impedes his desire and capacity to pray. Describing his desperate attempts to establish a spiritual connection one agonizing, sleepless night, the priest speaks of a "tumulte d'idées, d'images, de paroles. L'âme se tait. Dieu se tait. Silence" ("A mad rush of thoughts, words, images. In my soul nothing. God is silent. Silence" [1129; 127]). The narrator uses storm metaphors to depict his psychological state and this, together with the increasing brevity of the sentences, accelerates the rhythm of the passage and further develops the atmosphere of confusion. Despairing of ever establishing contact with God, he writes of forcing himself to pray,