Louis-Ferdinand Céline

by Merlin Thomas

This book is neither an apology nor a defense, it's a critical biography of the late French novelist.

Genres: France, Biography, Nonfiction

249 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Steve Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

An earlier account of Celine's life and work than Vitoux's that is very good in ways that Vitoux's is not. Thomas deals with Celine's anti-Semitism in a strange way but deals with it, but what I liked about this book was its probing of Celine's larger world view if that is the right way of putting it. Celine's value to literature, to life, is that world view and it is both what makes him worth reading, and so troubling. Celine liked to say that he was a stylist, and that was what made him worth reading - well, bad style of course will put readers off, but he knew as well as anyone that that was just a smokescreen, and admitted it left-handedly in interviews. It is perhaps fair to say that his first two books encompassed his general drift, but the best later books do not suffer for that. I can't remember when I read this book so am putting a date in it just for fun.

[Deki Napolju · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Céline's view of the universe is disturbingly true. It is just that he does not believe that the meek will inherit the earth. He thinks that the strong will always prevail...That working-class solidarity is sentimental nonsense...That war is a device of the rich for making yet more money and thinning out the poor...'

[Nan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is not exactly a page-turner, it offers some greatly needed insight into one of the 20th century's most accomplished writers. While Celine certainly has a lot to answer to as regards his rather unsavoury, unfounded anti-semitism during WWII, Thomas offers a context for Celine's views and attempts to rehabilitate - if not his political naivity, then his literary reputation, if only to prove how it would be detrimental to any understanding of literature should his works of fiction be ignored. Thomas also points out that Celine was by no means alone amongst the French literati of the day in his xenophobia, but suffered more than other 'traitors of the French Resistance' because he refused to affiliate himself with any one party. He was extremely critical of all participants in the war and thus, easily made a scapegoat. Fundamentally, this book offers a portrait of a highly intelligent, singular pacifist whose absolute dedication to human life (he was a doctor too) led him to reject all forms of power structures, whether they be fascist, communist or any shade dictatorship in-between. Thomas has also included many long passages in both the original French and English, which gives the reader the chance to see how brilliant a linguist was Celine.