ABSTRACT
Bernanos was in no sense a politician. He did not have one eye on his own future platforms, saving for himself a way out of the situations he tried to bring about, but immersed himself in everything he did; detachment, cursory treatment and theoretical discussion were not traits of his personality. Bernanos' sinners are all in a state of advanced spiritual corruption. The soul, absorbed in self-contemplation, shrinks continually until it is stripped of all the elements which originally composed its mysterious chemistry. As a child, Bernanos was rather timid and retiring, and in the elementary grades he frequently suffered from the cruel 'insouciance' of his classmates. There is a recurrent theme in all the writings of Bernanos, but especially in his early works; it is the theme of treason. Liberal Catholic thought was, for a long time, a rather weak plant.
