It's obscene, rock-bottom laughter, disabused of all idealism, that provides the tonic Céline speaks of. A book of outrage and humor and misery and resignation as experienced from the underbellies of French and American societies, two countries that humbly promote. The blackest comedies can baffle readers not trained, or just unwilling, to recognise the comic in human extremis. But, the interest of those he influenced aside, Céline’s novel remains as readable and vital today as it was in the 1930s. But the influences do not stop there: one cannot help but appreciate the palpable influence that the author's anti-war invective and defence of cowardice had on Joseph Heller's Yossarian and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim respectively. There followed Mort crdit (1936 Death on the. He wasn't the first French writer to use a colloquial style, but he was the first to use it so relentlessly and powerfully, to create a brand, the rant, whether it was delirious, lyrical or raging.Ĭéline’s expletive-laden, first-person narration influenced Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski and Beat poetry. bout de la nuit (1932 Journey to the End of Night ), the story of a man’s tortured and hopeless search for meaning, written in a vehement and disjointed style that marked its author as a major innovator of 20th-century French literature.
The reality of life on the front and the absurdity of (trench-)warfare quickly bring him back down to earth. Born in the shadow of entrenched realism and naturalism, Céline ripped up the textbook. Journey to the End of the Night begins with the First World War, a young Bardamu literally swept away by the enthusiasm for it.
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