Most of [Montherlant's] dramatic heroes aspire to act in ways that are above those usually found at the common level of humanity. They believe in cultivating what they regard as the better or deeper part of their beings. But they are usually supermen with a flaw, and Montherlant makes drama out of their struggles to promote their ideals in the face of opposition not only from others but from themselves.

For Montherlant, just as there are two kinds of men, the ordinary and the extraordinary, so there are two kinds of happiness, one for the majority and the other for the minority élite. Happiness for most people is again love, the happiness of one individual in love with another and allowed to be with that other person in peace. If Malatesta (1948) is anything to go by, the pleasures of love-making are not to be denied, but the notion...