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Krzysztof Tyszka-Drozdowski's avatar

Céline wasn't just a writer who uncompromisingly exposed the darkness that lies within human nature.

He saw himself simply as a stylist and always emphasized the effort that led him to achieve the desired literary effect. He was right about that, it's difficult to find anything comparable in French literature.

Style should not be entirely individual. Variations on classicism constitute virtually most of the history of French literature after the seventeenth century. Céline on his part created a completely distinct style that cannot be imitated. It accentuated his individuality, but it is completely sterile in the perspective of tradition: today no one will come and try to write like Celine. One may try to write like, for example, Paul Morand, and express himself in that style. By imitating Celine, one can at most create a pastiche, but not an original work.

In the harsh view of human nature that we find in Céline, we must also see a continuation of the French moralists. They had no pity for the human race, too.

Either way, French literature found in Céline a remarkable union of stylistic sophistication and exuberant temperament.

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Patrick Hinely's avatar

The best short piece I've seen which examines and explains a lot about the convoluted, contrary character known as Celine, concentrating on his writing style, was written by Kurt Vonnegut. It was published in the 1970s as an introduction to the Penguin editions of Celine's last three novels, the wartime trilogy of Castle to Castle, North and Rigadoon, and has been included in some Vonnegut anthologies.

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