Michel Bernanos (20 January 1923 – 27 July 1964) was a French poet and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

writer. He was the fourth child of French writer

Georges Bernanos Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defea ...

. He also used Michel Talbert and Michel Drowin as pen names to avoid the reputation of his father's name. His great cycle of initiation, inspired by two trips to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

between 1938 and 1948, centers around the novel'' The Other Side of the Mountain'' (1967). Bernanos committed suicide in the

Forest of Fontainebleau The forest of Fontainebleau (french: Forêt de Fontainebleau, or ''Forêt de Bière'', meaning "forest of heather") is a mixed deciduous forest lying southeast of Paris, France. It is located primarily in the arrondissement of Fontainebleau i ...

. Most of his works were published posthumously.

Biography

The only biography that appears to be devoted to Michel Bernanos is by Salsa Bertin: ''Michel Bernanos, the Insurgent'' (). In 1956, he made a short appearance in a film written by

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, and s ...

, ''A Man Condemned to Death Breaks Free''. Only ''The Murmur of the Gods'' was published during the author's lifetime, under the pseudonym Michel Drowin.

Bibliography

* ''Le cycle de la Montagne morte de la vie'' (''The Other Side of the Mountain''; Black River, 1996) which includes: # "Le Murmure des Dieux" ("The Whisper of the Gods") # "L'Envers de l'éperon" ("The Back of the Spur") # "La Montagne morte de la vie" ("The Dead Mountain of Life") # "Ils ont déchiré Son image" ("They Have Destroyed His Image") * ''La Forêt complice'' (''The Forest Accomplice''; Le Castor Astral), which contains three stories * ''On lui a fait mal'' (''It Hurt him''; Black River, 1996), three novels and six short stories: # "Les nuits de Rochemaure" # "La Grande Bauche" # "La Neige qui tue" # "On lui a fait mal" # "Le Cri des oiseaux" # "La Forêt complice" ("The Colluding Forest") # "La Parole donnée" ("The Given Word") # "La Prière à l'étoile" # "La Tempête" # "Le Passage"

''Le cycle de la Montagne morte de la vie''

Written in 1963 in

Gentilly, Val-de-Marne Gentilly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is the closest commune to Paris, located from the city center. Name The name Gentilly was recorded for the first time in the 6th century as ''Gentilly'', a royal estate of so ...

, Court, it is divided into two distinct parts. The first part reads like a novel about the sea. A boy of 18 boards a vessel, where he is first bullied by the other crew members and then taken under the wing of the cook Toine. The boat is then blocked at the equator for weeks, and a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

ensues. The vessel eventually lapses into a storm, leaving the protagonist and his friend Toine alone and adrift on the sea. Here begins the second part, which becomes much more fantastic. Both main characters are stranded on a mysterious island, where the predominant color seems to be red. The novel was translated into English under the title ''The Other Side of the Mountain'' and published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

in 1968.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernanos, Michel 1923 births 1964 suicides French fantasy writers 20th-century French poets French male poets 20th-century French male writers Suicides in France