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.
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.
I have always loved Celine's work. I never in my life met anyone who wanted to talk about it though. He is one of the few artists that I consider myself a fanboy of.
I always thought that "Journey" was Celine discovering his peculiar voice. It was the laboratory that he developed his narrative style and the Ellipsis. I read "Death on the Installment Plan" first, then "Journey." I would love to reread 'Castle to Castle', "North" and "Rigadoon" again. guess I will head over to Amazon. It's funny to me that I think he loved humanity. I am probably wrong, but being able to witness great cruelty and stupidity without looking away or pretending to see something else isn't cynical.
I couldn't get through it--although it's been decades since I tried. But I find your explanation of it as a nightmare picaresque very helpful. I didn't like a Confederacy of Dunces either, but that at least is supposed to be funny (I think). Thanks!
Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia
Your essay is a good summary of Journey. I think the first section is the strongest as at least Celine's poison pen is turned against the war. But it falls apart as it goes along, and the last part is almost completely disconnected from the rest of the novel and wanderes aimlessly for way too many pages. But worst is his gloomy and nihilistic view of human nature. Camus's biography describes him throwing aside Celine's other novel, Mort à crédit, halfway through reading it, which rings true.
As other commentators here have indicated, Céline's style was one of the most, if not the most, important aspect of his work. And it is quite a difficult style to translate.
I read it the first time in the 1960's and then again in the 1990's. The second reading left me questioning why I had reread it. I agree with you about the attempt to hide barbarism. It just does not disappear but rather appears in another guise at a different point in history.
Trotsky on Celine in"Art and Revolution", written before Celine became fascist is still worth reading. As noted in other comments "Death On The Instalment plan" is also worth reading. Here's a quote:"But Celine is no revolutionist, and does not aim to be one. He does not occupy himself with the goal of reconstructing society, which is chimerical in his eyes. He only wants to tear away the prestige from everything that frightens and oppresses him" And concludes: "Celine will not write a second book with such an aversion for the lie and such a disbelief in the truth. The dissonance must resolve itself. Either the artist will make his peace with the darkness or he will perceive the dawn". In the end, Celine chose the former.
Thanks, Ted. I read it (and Death on the Installment Plan) several times as a young man, regarding them highly, always recommending them. I was disappointed to learn of his anti-Semitism years after my partaking. I can't say I was shocked, but I was deeply alienated. He had written to me in a real and true manner, I felt, despite the distortions inherent in the style. But something that had been in him -- perhaps apparent in the two novels, to a different eye than mine -- festered and curdled? The fierce humanity I had reacted to in the picaresques was lost, by degrees? I suppose so, and will consider his a cautionary tale of spiritual and intellectual development.
Does a true nihilist strive to propagate a message about it? Having experienced the senseless sacrificial nightmare of the French front lines in WWI it's understandable why Voyage a Bout de la Nuit would be written, and of course Joseph Heller is a perfect comparison. His professional life has more in common with Albert Schweizer though. For the complete antipodal French vision of the period read George Bernanos' Journal d'un cure de campagne. A comparable and maybe even more cynical read would be Juan Goytisolo's Reivindicacion del Conde Julian. And the WWII analogue, at least to the experience of futility in the French ranks, would be Marc Bloch's Strange Defeat.
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.
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.
I have always loved Celine's work. I never in my life met anyone who wanted to talk about it though. He is one of the few artists that I consider myself a fanboy of.
I always thought that "Journey" was Celine discovering his peculiar voice. It was the laboratory that he developed his narrative style and the Ellipsis. I read "Death on the Installment Plan" first, then "Journey." I would love to reread 'Castle to Castle', "North" and "Rigadoon" again. guess I will head over to Amazon. It's funny to me that I think he loved humanity. I am probably wrong, but being able to witness great cruelty and stupidity without looking away or pretending to see something else isn't cynical.
I couldn't get through it--although it's been decades since I tried. But I find your explanation of it as a nightmare picaresque very helpful. I didn't like a Confederacy of Dunces either, but that at least is supposed to be funny (I think). Thanks!
Your essay is a good summary of Journey. I think the first section is the strongest as at least Celine's poison pen is turned against the war. But it falls apart as it goes along, and the last part is almost completely disconnected from the rest of the novel and wanderes aimlessly for way too many pages. But worst is his gloomy and nihilistic view of human nature. Camus's biography describes him throwing aside Celine's other novel, Mort à crédit, halfway through reading it, which rings true.
As other commentators here have indicated, Céline's style was one of the most, if not the most, important aspect of his work. And it is quite a difficult style to translate.
I read it the first time in the 1960's and then again in the 1990's. The second reading left me questioning why I had reread it. I agree with you about the attempt to hide barbarism. It just does not disappear but rather appears in another guise at a different point in history.
Trotsky on Celine in"Art and Revolution", written before Celine became fascist is still worth reading. As noted in other comments "Death On The Instalment plan" is also worth reading. Here's a quote:"But Celine is no revolutionist, and does not aim to be one. He does not occupy himself with the goal of reconstructing society, which is chimerical in his eyes. He only wants to tear away the prestige from everything that frightens and oppresses him" And concludes: "Celine will not write a second book with such an aversion for the lie and such a disbelief in the truth. The dissonance must resolve itself. Either the artist will make his peace with the darkness or he will perceive the dawn". In the end, Celine chose the former.
Thanks, Ted. I read it (and Death on the Installment Plan) several times as a young man, regarding them highly, always recommending them. I was disappointed to learn of his anti-Semitism years after my partaking. I can't say I was shocked, but I was deeply alienated. He had written to me in a real and true manner, I felt, despite the distortions inherent in the style. But something that had been in him -- perhaps apparent in the two novels, to a different eye than mine -- festered and curdled? The fierce humanity I had reacted to in the picaresques was lost, by degrees? I suppose so, and will consider his a cautionary tale of spiritual and intellectual development.
Does a true nihilist strive to propagate a message about it? Having experienced the senseless sacrificial nightmare of the French front lines in WWI it's understandable why Voyage a Bout de la Nuit would be written, and of course Joseph Heller is a perfect comparison. His professional life has more in common with Albert Schweizer though. For the complete antipodal French vision of the period read George Bernanos' Journal d'un cure de campagne. A comparable and maybe even more cynical read would be Juan Goytisolo's Reivindicacion del Conde Julian. And the WWII analogue, at least to the experience of futility in the French ranks, would be Marc Bloch's Strange Defeat.