Georges Bernanos, "Humiliated Children: A Diary, 1939-1940"

Georges Bernanos (1888-1948) is considered a classic of French national literature and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. In his war diaries, published under the title "Humiliated Children," disparate responses to events in distant Europe (the writer was living in Brazil at the time) are united by a theme that constantly troubled the Catholic author: the struggle between Good and Evil.
Passionate intransigence, fervent conviction, and a brilliant literary talent—these traits that made Bernanos one of the most talented publicists are fully revealed in his diaries. Through them, the reader can gain a more complete understanding of Bernanos's complex and highly contradictory worldview. We are presented with an orthodox Catholic and simultaneously an anticlerical, a supporter of the monarchy and a supporter of the resistance movement, a nationalist who condemned the Action Française, yet always an uncompromising denouncer of the hypocrisy, conformism, and self-interest of the bourgeoisie.