Grace in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Georges Bernanos’s The Diary of a Country Priest

Ladani, Safoura Tork; Bayat, Sanaz

doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.56.107

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Grace in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Georges Bernanos’s The Diary of a Country Priest

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Abstract:

Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead (2007), a meditative letter written by an aging minister, probes the need for forgiveness and grace. George Bernanos’s The Diary of a Country Priest (1936) pictures the suffering and sacrifice of an unnamed young priest in his attempt to open his parishioner’s heart to the love of God. Both novelists explore themes such as forgiveness, love, peace, faith, and grace. This paper first discusses the prevalent Christian themes in these novels, and the ways each novelist presents the saving and life-giving power of God’s grace in healing and restoring human soul, and then compares their treatment of these issues. The Protestant Robinson’s sensibility regarding these religious themes seems very similar to that of the Catholic Bernanos. Indeed, the American writer seems to be considerably influenced by her French predecessor.

Info:

Periodical:

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (Volume 56)

Pages:

107-115

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.56.107

Citation:

S. T. Ladani and S. Bayat, "Grace in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Georges Bernanos’s The Diary of a Country Priest", International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Vol. 56, pp. 107-115, 2015

Online since:

July 2015

Authors:

Safoura Tork Ladani, Sanaz Bayat

Keywords:

Faith, Forgiveness, Georges Bernanos, Gilead, Grace, Love, Marilynne Robinson, The Diary of a Country Priest

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Open Access

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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