Under the Sun of Satan

Under the Sun of Satan by Georges Bernanos, translated by Harry Lorin Binsse, 253 pages

"O you who know nothing of the world except colors and sounds without substance, soft hearts, lyric mouths in which harsh truths would melt away like a sugar candy - small hearts, small mouths - this is not for you."

Written nine years before his masterpiece, The Diary of a Country Priest, Under the Sun of Satan (originally translated into English as The Star of Satan) shares many similarities with the later work.  Both concern a saintly priest single-mindedly pursuing holiness, unmistakably modeled on St Jean Vianney.  In both novels, the priest is mentored by an older, worldly priest and conquers temptation through a rigorous course of asceticism which endangers his health.  In both novels, the saint is entirely misunderstood by the bourgeois world that surrounds him.  Most obviously, in both novels the protagonist wins his greatest triumph - the salvation of a single soul - but the victory is not only unknown to the world but becomes a source of scandal when the convert dies soon thereafter, with the priest's actions being singled out for censure.

There are considerable differences as well.  While the protagonist of the later novel dies young, Fr Donissan lives to old age.  Mouchette, the young woman Fr Donissan counsels, hates herself for her sins, where the Countess' sin was her anger at God for the death of her son.  Most importantly, the earlier novel uses a third person perspective, and therefore does not enter as fully into the mind of the protagonist.  While this allows for more definite, clearly drawn distinction between the saintly priest and the world, it lacks the delirious quality of the later novel.  To read Under the Sun of Satan is to wade in the waters, to read The Diary of a Country Priest is to be immersed, and risk drowning.