ferdinand celine journey to the end of the night

Of course, he wasn’t alone in joining the losing team Ezra Pound gave anti-Semitic propaganda speeches on Italian radio and was arrested for treason when the war ended. With the publication of this, his debut novel, in 1931, Leon Trotsky wrote that Céline “had walked into the pantheon of great literature like a man walks into his living room.” But with the rise of Nazi Germany, Céline made the fatal error of becoming a fascist, and like magic, he was suddenly a non-person in the world of books. I may be biased on this front, but Céline is arguably the finest Western novelist of the past hundred years. I still remember how my junior year Early American Lit professor reacted when I told her I was reading Rigadoon: “Wasn’t Céline a Nazi?” Ask an English professor about Céline and half of them will have no idea who you’re talking about, and the other half will react like you just snapped off a Hitler salute.

Case in point: the 20th century’s most reviled and imitated novelist, Louis-Ferdinand Céline. I’m re-posting it here as the site is now defunct.įour years of college taught me that not only does the ivory tower have no idea what makes good literature, they couldn’t care less they’ll erase truly talented writers from the history books if they wander off the plantation.

NOTE: This article was originally published at In Mala Fide on November 16, 2011.

Ferdinand celine journey to the end of the night