 Hello fellow followers of Christ, and welcome to the show that introduces you to the men and women behind history's greatest works of literature. Come along every week as we explore these renowned authors, the primes and genre in which they wrote, why scholars praised their writing, and how we as Catholics should read and understand their works. I'm Joseph Pierce, and this is The Authority. Hello and welcome to this episode of The Authority. I'm your host, Joseph Pierce. Thanks as always for joining me. And today we're going to be looking at a writer who's not as well known as he should be. And it's in order to rectify somewhat that sin of omission that we are focusing on him today. The writer in question is Morris Behring. I think America's normally pronounced the name Maurice, but I'm sorry, I can't do that. So Morris Behring, B-A-R-I-N-G. Now, the best way of finding out where he fits is to take a visual image. There's a very famous painting by a marvelous artist called Sir James Gunn. A little bit about him first. Sir James Gunn was a Scottish artist who painted in the realist tradition. And amongst other things, he painted portraits of the Royal Family. In the late 1940s when Princess Elizabeth before she becomes Queen Elizabeth II, for instance, as a young lady in some of these group portraits of the Royal Family, he was a convert to Catholicism himself and is actually buried in the same graveyard as Hilaire Beloch in the Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Sussex. But he painted, as he was a friend of Beloch's and Chesterton's and Morris Behring, he actually got the three of them together and painted a painting called The Conversation Peace. And it shows Chesterton seated at a table, at a large table, writing something on a piece of paper and standing behind him are Hilaire Beloch and Morris Behring. So we often see Chesterton and Beloch together. George Bernard Shaw dubbed Chesterton and Beloch as being seen so much as being synonymous, as being alike in what they believed and what they wrote about, that they are like two halves of a pantomime elephant, you know, the Chester Beloch. And really Morris Behring deserves to be part of that. I don't know what name you come up with, the Chester Beloch Behring or something, but the three of them are a triumvirate. They are three people that were very important to Catholic letters, to Catholic literature, especially between the two world wars. And that's really where Morris Behring's fame resides in what he wrote between the two world wars. But before we get there, I want to backtrack to his earlier life. But the point is that although Morris Behring is now seen as being in the shadow of Beloch and Chesterton, that was not the case. And between the two world wars, he was a best-selling novelist in the UK, in France and in other countries that he was very much seen as a significant and a well-known author in his own right. It's very sad that in the post-war years he's been largely neglected. And there are some reasons for that, which we'll discuss. But probably actually, let's begin with that, actually, but the most important reason why he's neglected is because of his extraordinary depth of culture. This man was so widely read, not just in the literature of the English language, but he spoke essentially fluently and very comfortably both reading and speaking Greek, Latin, Russian, Danish, one of the Scandinavian languages, French, German, so I think Italian. So he was a polyglot man who just picked up languages and worked for the diplomatic service. When he was a young man, obviously a man so gifted in languages, so he spent time in Copenhagen, so yeah, Danish would be the language as a diplomat. He worked in Russia, and he's just so widely read. So what I feel when I read Maurice Bering, he's a challenge to read. He's difficult, but this is a challenge to which we should rise, rise to the challenge. But I think about him, what Chesterton said about his friend, the Dominican Father Vincent McNabb. Chesterton said, Chesterton said to Father Vincent McNabb, referring to Father McNabb's holiness, that he walks on a crystal floor above my head. And that's what I feel when I read Bering, not so much his holiness, but his depth of culture. He'll quote foreign languages and not normally bother to translate for us, because he's sort of assuming his readers will be as knowledgeable in languages as he is. So you have to be prepared when you read them to not get everything, but to allow yourself to grow into the, should we say, the aesthetic literary cathedral, which he is, and to grow through being in his presence. So for me, he does as a writer and as a man of culture, walk on a crystal floor above my head. As regards his conversion to Catholicism, he's featured in my book, Literary Converse, and I'm going to read the passage about his early views on Catholicism and where they led. So dating back to 1899, so he's almost exactly the same age as Chesterton, Chesterton and Bering were both born in 1874, Bering would outlive Chesterton and died in 1945, Chesterton died in 1936. This goes back to 1899, so we have a young Morris Bering in his mid-20s. I'm just going to read from the book here for the moment. Even at this stage, however, Bering understood the logic of the Catholic position, telling Reggie Balfour, quote, my trouble is I cannot believe in the first proposition, the source of all dogma. If I could do that, in other words, the existence of God, if I could do that, if I could tell the first lie, I quite see that all the rest would follow. In spite of his unbelief, he accompanied Balfour to a low mass at Notre Dame de Victoire. He had never attended a low mass before and he was pleasantly surprised, quote. It impressed me greatly. I had imagined Catholic services were always long, complicated and overlaid with ritual. A low mass I found was short, extremely simple and somehow or other made me think of the catacombs and the meetings of the early Christians. One felt one was looking on at something extremely ancient. The behaviour of the congregation and the expression on their faces impressed me too. To them, it was evidently real, end quote. There was a potent postscript to this episode, which perhaps had as much to do with Bering's eventual conversion as anything Beloch may have discussed with him. When Reggie Balfour returned to London, he sent Bering an epitaph translated from the French into English. I'm going to endeavour to read this in the original French so I'm probably going to butcher it so a few French speakers out there are polities in advance. So even if you could speak French with that appalling rendition, you still probably don't know what I'm saying, so I will translate it. Here lies Robert Peckham, Englishman and Catholic, who after England's break with the church left England not being able to live without the faith and who, coming to Rome, died not being able to live without his country. The epitaph is to be found in the church of Sangregoria in Rome and its underlying tradition produced a marked and lasting effect on Bering's whole view of the Reformation. He always possessed a melancholy nature and such imagery provided the inspiration for many of his novels. More specifically, the epitaph itself provided the starting point for his writing of the historical novel Robert Peckham, 30 years later. It is worth noting that Bering, by the beginning of 1902, was to be as emotionally affected by the Catholic high mass, however long, complicated and overlaid with ritual it may be, as he had been by the low mass of Notre Dame de Victoire. In February 1902 he was in Rome when Pope Leo XIII celebrated his Jubilee. He went to high mass at St Peter's and witnessed the Pope being carried in on his chair, blessing the crowd. Quote, I had a place under the dome. At the elevation of the host, the papal guard went down on one knee and their hellbirds struck the marble floor with one sharp, thunderous rap and presently the silver trumpets rang out in the dome. At that moment I looked up and my eye caught the inscription written in large letters all around it, two S. Petrus. And I reflected the prophecy had certainly received the most substantial and concrete fulfillment. The solemnity and the majesty of the spectacle were indescribable especially as the pallor of the pope's face seemed transparent as if the veil of flesh between him and the other world had been refined and attenuated to the utmost and to an almost unearthly limit. Emotionally bearing now felt a deep attraction to Catholicism but intellectually he was still unable to believe. At the beginning of January 1900 he wrote to Ethel Smith, that's a friend, actress friend, I wish we were all born Roman Catholics. I believe in their spirit and refuse to acknowledge their exclusive supremacy of their church. End quote. Later the same year when bearing was cycling in the countryside with Smith, she said to him that she believed he would someday become a Catholic. At the time he had treated her prediction with incredulity believing that nothing was more impossible. Later after her prophecy had been realized he told her it was an example of her miraculous intuition. Several months later still bearing wrote to another friend George Graham stating that for me there are only two alternatives. Agnosticism, practically atheism or R.C.'s in Roman Catholics. He wrote again a few days later expousing his own personal theory on the whole issue. This time he seems to arrive at intellectual as well as emotional ascent. Quote. No one who has ever punched Roman Catholicism and who is religious and believes in Christianity has ever not embraced it at once. Newman arrived at the conclusion purely a priori. He had a spirit of hate for Catholics and had never been inside a Catholic church. Most people don't punch it at all and say, oh priest in our Dollar Tree, but however bad priests are, but however bad priests are doesn't affect the quote question of is the Roman church the Catholic and apostolic church of the creed or is the Anglican? And I think emphatically the Roman is and the Anglican is not. In December 1900 he finally arrived at a position where his intellect conformed with his emotions, his head with his heart. He wrote to Hubert Cornish describing how he had changed during the previous 12 months. Previously he had been quite unable to perform the acrobatic feat the leap of faith required even to begin to contemplate conversion. But now I start from the other side. I believe in Christianity. I believe in the redemption. Ironically for one so different from Oscar Wilde in every way imaginable, bearing was also influenced by the return of J.K. Huismans to the church. French novelist. Quote. If you read en route by Huismans his fight at the end with his reason is word for word what I have twice experienced detail for detail. For bearing although the fight with reason was all but over it would take him the rest of the decade to make the decisive step into the church. In the intervening period he battled not so much with great philosophical questions as with petty prejudices. In 1906 he told Beloch that he had despised Vatican politics and the effect of the church upon the body politic in Italy and France. He disliked the English Catholics in Rome and he had doubts about Catholic education. Three years later he buried such doubts and embraced the faith. In the meantime he would say with Huismans that he was en route. Okay so here we have the beginnings of bearing's approach to the church some years prior to his conversion. Before we talk about his importance as a novelist which is where his real literary importance resides, although I say that somewhat begrudgingly and the reason I say it begrudgingly is I do think Maurice Behring is one of the finest poets of the 20th century. His poetry is unread and unknown and that is quite frankly a crime. I have here a volume which should be brought back into print one of these days called collected poems by Maurice Behring. And I'm going to read a part, you know so I'll just give he also, I've got a bad wrist so if I squirm occasionally forgive me. So he has an ability in a sonnet to encapsulate the spirit of a nation so there's a sonnet on Germany, there's a sonnet on Italy, there's a sonnet on Seville, there's a sonnet on Greece, there's a sonnet on Russia. He spent some time in Russia he was a journalist reporting on the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. I'm going to resist the temptation of reading his marvelous sonnet on Russia but he also wrote a June 19 Russia, harvest in Russia and then the other thing he has is this marvelous ability to encapsulate writers and composers in a sonnet from their spirit. So there's a sonnet on Dostoevsky, there's a sonnet on Beethoven, on Mozart, on Shelley, Percy Shelley and there's a sonnet on Wagner which I am going to read bearing as well as being so widely read in the literature so many languages was very very cultured in terms of the love of music and he was a great devotee of the music of Wagner. Wagner of course is a conflicted spirit and this conflict this tempestuous tumultuous aspect of Wagner's personality and his work is present in this sonnet I am going to not resist the temptation I am going to read it. Wagner by Maurice Berry. Oh strange awakening to a world of gloom and baffled moonbeams and delirious stars of souls and moan behind forbidden bars and waving forests swept by wings of doom of heroes folding in unhappy fight and winged messengers from Erie's dim and mountains ringed with flame and shapes that swim in the deep river's green translucent night. Oh restless soul forever seeking bliss a thirst forever and unsatisfied whether the woodland starts to the echoing horn or dying tristering moans by shores forlorn or seek freed rise through fire to wake his bride and shakes the wording planets with a kiss but probably closer to home as regards the authority and the Christian dimension he wrote a wonderful sonnet called Candle Mass he was receding the church at Candle Mass February the second the Feast of the Purification of course and there's a wonderful sonnet which I will resist reading but he wrote also a poem called Vito Nuova meaning New Life's Sonnet sequence of three sonnets to commemorate his reception to the church on that Candle Mass and I'm going to read the middle of the three sonnets in this sonnet sequence which encapsulates his emotions at the time of his conversion. One day I heard a whisper wherefore wait why linger in a separated porch why nurse the flicker of a severed torch the fire is there ablaze beyond the gate why tremble foolish soul why hesitate however faint the knock it will be heard I knocked as swiftly came the answering word which bade me enter to my own estate I found myself in a familiar place and there my broken soul began to mend I knew the smile of every long lost face they whom I had forgotten remembered me I knelt I knew it was too bright to see the welcome of a king who was my friend all right so during world war one we've uh we've looked at some of the world war one poets and there's some more poetry about the rustle japanese war there's a sonnet on a the dead samurai but but but bearings rolled in the in world war one was with the the new regiment within the british army called the royal flying corps this of course the early days of of the existence of aeroplanes of the of of the technology of flight and so at this point there was not the royal air force by world war two of course it would be the royal air force a separate department of the military but the royal flying corps was merely a core of the army and he was uh um served in the royal flying corps during world war one actually wrote a book about it i called rfchq i think if i remember correctly but it would say let's now move on to bearing as a novelist uh his first novels published in 1921 was called passing by and his final novel darby and jome was published in 1935 12 novels in total during that period of 14 years many of them are somewhat well several of them are somewhat substantial in terms of length and uh there's the famous well maybe we'll get to that a bit later so robert peckham already spoken about this is a historical novel reminds us somewhat of the novels of robert hu benson a novel set during the time of the persecution of catholics during the time of the english reformation the 16th and 17th century robert peckham is forced into exile so the novel is set first in england and then in rome cat's cradle is a wonderful long novel about um an aristocratic catholic lady living amongst the expatriate community in rome um so the english community in rome the lonely lady of dollage is another wonderful story that bearings this marvelous ability to to make his protagonist females women a somewhat unusual gift for many male novelists um but his greatest his greatest um novel most people would agree is c just the letter c and um i wrote about this in the series for crisis magazine putting great literature in a nutshell and i thought i would read this as to give you some inkling uh into the sort of novelist that morris baring was c is one of the longest works featured in this series weighing in at over 700 pages as well as having the shortest title it is also neglected and little known as is its author morris baring it would be well therefore to say a little about the author and it's important before we proceed to what is arguably his final work and although we talked a little about morris baring's biography already the way i discuss it here is somewhat different so we will we will go ahead morris baring was born in 1874 the same year as his good friend gk chesterton a convert to the faith he was received into the church in 1909 although he is a very fine poet he is better known as a novelist between the two world wars he wrote several popular and highly regarded novels these include robert peckham an historical novel set during the true the terror of the 16th century and several novels set in contemporary england and europe he led a lot considered one of baring's novels cat's cradle to be quote a great masterpiece the best story of a woman's life that i know end quote gk chesterton wrote that he had been much uplifted by baring's novel the coat without seen comparing it quote with much of the very good catholic work now being done especially in france françois moiriac one of the finest novelists of the catholic literary revived in france to its chesterton was referring was a great admirer of baring's novels what i most admire about baring's work moiriac said is the sense he gives you of the penetration of grace baring was too moved to speak when he learned of moiriac's praise baring was inadvertently describing himself in the description of a character in the coat without seen everything about him gave one the impression of centuries and hidden stores of pent up civilization baring knew latin greek french german italian russian and danish and he was widely read in the literature of all these languages reading his work is like stepping into the presence of someone who walks on a crystal floor of culture above our heads forgive the element of repetition it's like a refrain in the song worth worth repeating as the aforementioned quote by moiriac might suggest baring enjoyed great success in france ten of his books were translated into french with one daphne daphne adena going through 23 printings his novels were also translated into check dutch german hungarian italian spanish and swedish c published in 1924 received the highest appraise from the french novelist andre moir who wrote that no book had given him such pleasure since his reading of toll story proust and certain novels by em forster as we begin to discuss the novel it might be good to start with an explanation of its title c is the nickname given to the novel's protagonist the honorable carol bramsley by his family and friends the second son and fourth child of lord and lady hengrave c moves in an aristocratic world of opulence high culture and low morals a precocious child who struggles to adapt to childhood he is torn between the two types of love which are ever at war in the human hearts the first is to call the caritas the sacrificing of the self for the beloved the other is the pursuit of eros the sacrificing of the beloved on the altar erected to the self it is this war which wages itself relentlessly in c's own selfish heart the higher calling of caritas is epitomized by c's thwarted relationship with the aptly and symbolically named Beatrice meanwhile his lower appetites hunger are for the seductive and flirtatious layla the beautiful wife of a successful diplomat on the surface the religious element is present in the presence of Beatrice a devout and virtuous catholic but the deepest spiritual dimension is subsumed within the very depths of cultural sensibility and a breathtaking breadth of intertextual interplay with which bearing breathes ethical and aesthetic life into the weavings and wanderings of the plot we see how c's early infatuation with romantic poetry in general and the poetry of sherry in particular impacts his philosophy of life and love we see how his dabbling with the diabolism with the french decadence intoxicates his aesthetic sensibility poisoning his innocence with the suggestive promises of pride we see how his reading weakens and finally destroys his already weak and faltering christian faith we see how his descent into atheism is seen as a liberation of the spirit from the constraints of christian morality throughout the novel the music of Wagner provides a hauntingly recurring soundtrack a light motif of doom laden desire and gloom laden desolation and then actually quote from a few lines from that sonnet on Wagner I've already read this evokes the strange awakening to a world of gloom that discovery of Wagner has on sea a discovery that dooms him to the pursuit of dark and delirious delights the fruit of which is frustration again bearing sonnet speaks to the novel's protagonist o restless soul forever seeking bliss a thirst forever and unsatisfied there is however a powerful antidote to this recurring Wagnerian siren call in the perennial metaphorical presence of Dante throughout the novel seeing this sublime and subliminal presence enables us to perceive the intertextual counterpoint that Dante's presence represents with the beatific Beatrice providing the clue we can see how sea is a Dante figure who has allowed himself to wander into the dark wood of sin a slave to his sinful appetites and of course insofar as sea is a Dante figure in the context of Dante's character in the divine comedy he is also an everyman figure and therefore a cautionary figure sea shows us ourselves or the selves we might become if we choose to pursue certain loves at the expense of others the question that the novel asks and finally answers is whether sea will respond to the hire call to which Beatrice beckons him or whether he will remain like Paolo in the inferno a restless soul forever seeking bliss a thirst forever and forever unsatisfied in our uncivilized age it is perhaps inevitable that the civilized brilliance of Maurice Bering should have been eclipsed by the polluting smog of uncultured mediocrity for as long as the light of civilization dwindles so will the reputation of this most civilized of writers one might hope that the inevitable demise of burned out nihilism will lead to a resurrection of all that is good true and beautiful in literature if such a resurrection happens Maurice Bering's work will once again be as widely read and enjoyed as once it was thanks so much as always for joining me in the authority please do join me next time and until next time goodbye god bless and good reading this has been an episode of the authority with joseph pierce brought to you by tan for updates on new episodes and to support the authority and other great free content visit the authority podcast dot com to subscribe and use coupon code authority 25 to get 25 off your next order including books audio books and video courses by joseph pierce on literary giants such as tulking chesterton louis shakespeare and bellach as well as tans extensive catalog of content from the saints and great spiritual masters to strengthen your faith and interior life to follow joseph and support his work check out his blog and 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