Bruckberger: L’enfant terrible by Bernard and Bernadette Chovelon (review)

Abstract

Bruckberger: L'enfant terrible. By Bernard and Bernadette Chovelon. (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf. 2011. Pp. 286. euro20,00 paperback. ISBN 978-2-204-09240-1.)The French Dominican Raymond-Leopold Bruckberger (1907-98) described himself as an unworthy priest. But he also established a transatlantic reputation as cultural critic, renowned author, cinematic artiste, member of the French Resistance, bon vivant, and-as his successor in the Academie francaise put it-enfant terrible of the Church. Bernard and Bernadette Chovelon have written their biography Bruckberger: L'enfant terrible to convey to readers in the twenty-first century a sense of this turbulent priest's unconditional love for Jesus Christ that traversed the numerous and violent tempests of his life without ever weakening (p. 11).Bruckberger's life began in the southern French town of Murat, the fourth of five children bom to an Austrian industrialist father and the daughter of a local cafe owner. The family was left destitute when Franck Bruckberger was arrested in 1914 as an enemy alien. Poverty and shame clouded the remainder of Raymond's childhood. His mother's sorrow and bittemess were exacerbated by the fact that her husband never rejoined the family after the war, years passing before it was revealed that he had resettled in his native land. The authors emphasize young Bruckberger's conflicted relationship with his absent father and see in this early trauma the catalyst for his combative spirit, intense creativity, fervent patriotism, and restless search for love. His Catholic faith became a sure refuge within an otherwise rootless life.Entering the Dominican order in 1929, Bruckberger was ordained a priest in 1934. His work editing the Revue thomiste in Paris brought him into collaborative contact with French Catholic intellectuals such as the philosopher Jacques Maritain, who introduced him to the novelist Georges Bernanos, with whom he forged a deep and lasting friendship. Increasingly, Bruck craved the spotlight and would be drawn to the world of French letters and cinema. After serving with valor in the 1940 campaign, Bruckberger was taken prisoner by the Germans, escaped captivity, fled to Marseilles, and eventually joined the Resistance. He was captured and only saved from a firing squad by the personal intervention of his former commanding officer and erstwhile friend Joseph Darnand, later the commander of Vichy's paramilitary Milice. …