Louis Ferdinand Céline

[Guillaume Barkero]

Fr?d?ric Beigbeder, a contemporary French novelist/essayist, in his book Dernier inventaire avant liquidation, tells us the story of Louis Ferdinand C?line giving the manuscript of his first novel Journey to the end of the night (Voyage au bout de la nuit) to his editor, followed by this words: "This is the Goncourt in one hand, and a literary topic for a whole century in the other...". Well, C?line was wrong about the prestigious French literary prize, but knew he had a tremendously important novel on his hands (both of them).
When, after a series of fortunate events, I finally had Voyage... in my hands, I could't believe what I was reading, the volcano-like force of C?line's prose, the inexhaustible sources with which he created the journey of his alter ego, Bardamu, from the anguishing atmosphere of a wartime Paris, to the Conrad-like poisonous black Africa, with all its infectious diseases and poverty, from Place Clichy to New York and the nightmarish Ford Company.
One has to read that voyage and then fathom into C?line's childhood -a mixture of farce, tenderness, disgrace and hilarity-, described with an unparalleled genius in Mort ? credit, his second novel. Since I've only read those two, I can't talk about his other works, but I assure you that his first two novels are a hundred percent worth it...
I almost forgot: Louis Ferdinand C?line was born as Louis Ferdinand Destouches, and was a medical doctor in "real life"; he borrowed his grandmother's first name C?line and inmortalized it as his second name. Extraordinary, isn't it?

[titania7]

Guillaume,
What a remarkable coincidence! I just procured a copy of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's Journey to the End of the Night from the library last week. And here you've begun a thread on Celine! Kudos to you!! Regrettably, it will be at least 3 weeks before I have a chance to begin Journey. I'm simply in the midst of too many books already. In addition, I have a commitment that doesn't end until the middle part of December. However, I'm anxious to explore the world of Celine's fiction....and even more interested now that I know he is one of your favorite writers.

There is an excellent site that provides some info--including a biography and bibliography--on Celine here:

Louis Ferdinand Celine Biography and Bibliography at LitWeb.net

There's also the wikipedia entry here:

Louis-Ferdinand C?line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


And.....

http://kirijasto.sci.fi/fceline.htm


From this last site, I cannot resist quoting a passage from
Journey to the End of Night:

"In this world we spent our time killing or adoring, or both
together. 'I hate you! I adore you!' We keep going,
we fuel and refuel, we pass our life to a biped of
the next century, with frenzy, or any cost, as if
it were the greatest of pleasures to perpetuate
ourselves, as if, when all's said and done, it would
make us immortal. One way or another, kissing is
as indispensable as scratching."

I hope other fans of Celine's work will contribute their thoughts to this marvelous thread.

Thanks, Guillaume!

Warm regards,
Titania

[DeadAsDreams]

I have only read Journey To the End of the Night as well, but what a marvel it is. Haunting, beautiful, and yet so full of hate and cynicism. I wish I could have met Celine, the encounter would, I believe, leave quite an impression.