The Crippled Giant: A Literary Relationship With Louis-Ferdinand Céline

by Milton Hindus

A new version of a classic work on France’s controversial writer, including selections from Hindus’s extensive correspondence and meetings with Céline during his postwar exile in Denmark.

Genres: Nonfiction

171 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Milton Hindus was one of the thirteen founding faculty members of Brandeis University. He stayed at Brandeis throughout his career and taught for 33 years (1948-1981) before retiring as the Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities. From 1965 to 1967 he was the occupant of the Peter and Elizabeth Wolkenstein Chair in English and American Literature at Brandeis. In 1986, Hindus was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University. He was elected three times as president of the Brandeis chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and served as Chairman of the Jewish Faculty Group of Greater Boston.

He is, perhaps, most famous for his book The Crippled Giant, which details his meeting with the then-exiled French novelist and anti-semite pamphleteer Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Hindus gained instant recognition as well as notoriety for his brutally honest portrayal of the much maligned literary figure, and received both accolades as well as derision for his book.

His edited volume on Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: One Hundred Years After (1955) won the Walt Whitman Prize from The Poetry Society of America. Hindus has also served as an editor of the sixteen-volume Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972).

Hindus was a regular book reviewer for The New York Herald Tribune from 1941 to 1943, and he also wrote reviews for various journals devoted to the review of recent publications, such as The New Boston, and the Kenyon and Sewanee Reviews. He contributed literary reviews and essays for general interest publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Chicago Sunday Tribune, and The New York Times Book Review.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louis-Ferdinand Céline is endlessly fascinating. For obvious reasons when I think of the publishing house New Directions, I always think of Céline along with that press. I first started reading his work, due to the love of his stylist language, or at least, the english translation of his work. There is something punk-like in the way he saw his world. The fact that he wasn't exactly a huge fan of the jews, just added a 'wow' aspect to his work. And by no means, a 'wow' in a good way. Still, a remarkable figure who lived through the wars, and I think, suffered from them as well.

"The Crippled Giant" is an interesting and odd book. Milton Hindus, a literary academic type of fellow, as well as being jewish, became an acquaintance of Céline - in fact, he helped him a lot during the late 1940s, when he was exiled in Denmark, due to his kind-of-pro-nazi stance. The fact is, I think Céline was just a miserable human being, but also a genius stylist - and Hindus had to deal with that fact. The book starts off as a memoir of him knowing and visiting Céline, but then becomes a lit-crit of his writings. The first two-parts of the book are very so-so to me, on the other hand, the last third of the book is devoted to their correspondence to each other. That, I found much more interesting.

Through the letters, one gets a better (not always in a good way) impression of Céline's personality, and to be thankful, Hindus doesn't back down from him. Yet, he was very supportive, especially arranging business dealings with New Directions in New York, as well as sending him coffee time-to-time. Since I'm a publisher myself, I found the discussion between Céline and Hindus regarding the publishing world in France as well as in America, totally intriguing. Their relationship didn't last, but, this book gives us a peak behind the curtain that surrounds the often-mysterious Céline. And for that, I'm thankful for this book.

[Unbridled · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to find Celine fascinating even though every book of his since Journey to the End of the Night has left me cold. Hindus notes, "Celine is a splinter in my mind that I've got either to absorb completely or to eject completely." I disagree with this simplification, but I like the line and I enjoyed this book. Jewish-American intellectual meets the anti-Semitic Celine after establishing correspondence with him during the height of his infamy (post WWII). Interesting structure: part 1 (honest, amusing, smart), Hindus's diary of meeting the exiled Celine in Denmark; part 2 (aggressive and bitter, perhaps counter-reacting to his obeisance to Celine in person), Hindus's 'immediate' reflections in Paris; part 3 (cooler, no longer hostile), further reflections and remembrances; part 4 (surprisingly positive), the afterword and the aftermath, including Hindus's feelings about Celine's response, Conversations with Professor Y; and finally (entertaining but thin), selected excerpts from the Hindus-Celine correspondence.

[Hobart Frolley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good if you interested in learning more about Celine or are a fan of his work, but not for everyone. It can be a little repetitive and some of the letters from Hindus to Celine are a little too filled with flattery. Overall though, it is mostly interesting to read an account by a Jewish writer corresponding and visiting a rabidly anti-Semitic author who is in exile to avoid charges of collaboration. This book makes Celine look perhaps even crazier than one would imagine and he was not amused by that. Celine's response to this book was the wildly entertaining 'Conversations with Professor Y', which I recommend reading especially if you read this book.

[Steve Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hindus "befriended" Celine when the French writer was in exile in Denmark, and visited him there. He came to despise him, or something like that. His book is useful for those interested in Celine but not much good at really getting under the skin; Hindus didn't really seem to have much insight. He says in the book he decided to publish it because he felt it was his best writing; if so, he is/was not much of a writer and the most lively sections are laboured. But for Celinists if that is the right word it is always good to have something like that.