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/lit/ - Literature

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6327941 No.6327941 [Reply] [Original]

What do you guys think about Celine and especially about the Journey vs the rest of his work? I've read north and mort a credit and i'm not really getting much out of it. north was interesting for historical context, but that was it p much.

am i missing something? are there any other worthwhile works of his or is he a one trick pony?

>> No.6327954

follow up question, is there perhaps a collection of his articles and essays, i'd be interested in reading those

>> No.6327984

Picked it up from the library a month ago and haven't even touched it yet (mostly because I'm trying to finish another book first). Haven't heard too much about JttEotN, is there anything you can say to hype me up about it?

>> No.6327987

Journey to the End of the Night is generally agreed to be his masterpiece. I really liked it, especially the first half. In his later works his distinctive prose loses its force and he becomes pretty much a one-trick pony.

>> No.6327991

>>6327984
>Haven't heard too much about JttEotN, is there anything you can say to hype me up about it?

It came 10th on /lit/'s list of top 100 all time books.

>> No.6328007

>>6327941
>reading books from a racist anti semitic nazi

>> No.6328012

>>6327984
i can't think of one particular thing to hype you up with, but it's just a cool book from various perspectives. it's a semi-biographical account of his life, starts with his time in the first world war, and goes on to describe his travels on three continents. it's a pessimistic, cyncical snapshot of what the world looks like around 1920, from a french perspective. he's pissed off as fuark he really bends the language to make it tear and rip and hurt in ways i haven't seen before i read it.

it's a good book

>>6328007
ohai JIDF

>> No.6328142

>>6328007
Who cares, this book is not Mein Kampf

>> No.6328175

French here, I've been confronted to this book several times in high school. Putting the whole "Celine's a dick" thing aside it's a good book, harsh on the world and realistic. Céline uses twisted sentences and words that make the reader uncomfortable and for a book talking (mostly) about war it's perfect. Also if the choice of words itself is of great interest it still managed to be only a "tool" for the story, by that I mean you are not going to read and endless depiction on battlefields and "ow I hate the world that's ugly and that's worse and blah blah blah...", but it will make you think.
On the other hand I wonder about the quality of the translations. I've read it in French so the original text keeps all its spiciness and I don't know how good are the English/other language ones since the author sometimes really push the limits of what you can do with the French language.

>> No.6328177

>>6328007
death of the author yo

also journey was pretty much revered by all super leftists, anarchists, etc during its release
so I guess it doesn't have any anti semitic racist nazi content

>> No.6328188

>>6328177
>death of the author

Funnily enough that approach was pioneered by a guy called Paul de Man, who it was later discovered had also written anti-semitic articles in Nazi-collaborationist newspapers during WW2.

>> No.6328197

>>6328177
Nope it doesn't. Regarding my remark about the translation I'd add that there's a lot of slangs and vernacular language so try looking for the best translation to enjoy it

>> No.6328208

>>6328188
Still, this is Céline's first book and he wasn't an openly racist/anti semitic at the time. The book is devoid of racial hatred, since it kinda hate everyone (or rather eveything related to war) equally.

>> No.6328244

>>6328208
No I agree. Even his treatment of colonialism was far less racist than you would expect for a 20's misanthropic European. Céline is even sympathetic to the Africans, I think.

>> No.6328280

>>6328244
Yep that's even more right. He was anti-semitic tho I can't contest that. He once said about one of his writing "Je viens de publier un livre abominablement antisémite, je vous l'envoie. Je suis l'ennemi n1 des Juifs" --> "I just published an abominably anti-Semite book, I send it to you. I'm the n1 enemy of the Jews."

>> No.6328377

>>6328244
>Céline is even sympathetic to the Africans, I think.
yeah, i liked that part. something to the effect of 'white men will do arduous work for little money, negroes have to be whipped into submission before they do that, they reserve themselves that much self respect'. bit of a noble savage thing going on there

>> No.6328402

Mort à crédit is my favourite of his, have you read it in french ? If not it might explain why you don't like it as much.

>> No.6328421

>>6328402
no. i feel a lot might have got lost in translation. the language seems more tame and vague than in Journey. different translator as well. maybe i should read it in english

>> No.6328444

One thing is sure, French literature has witnessed a good amount of fucked-up minds (yeah I'm also looking at you, Sade)

>> No.6328449

>>6328421
What the book is supposed to be as i experienced is much more raw, less structured and coherent than his first book, more boring bits that drags on forever as well as geniously crafted sentences.The point is to induce a sort of trance.
But it only stands as long as the language is there, the plot is tied tighly to the words, the story in itself as Céline said is irrevelant.

>> No.6328461

Yep there's a lot of weird punctuations, half written sentences, and the author slowly slips towards delirium and hallucinations inducted by fever, so don't expect something clear indeed

>> No.6328470

>>6328449
hm. maybe i should re-read it in two or three settings. when i first read it i read it over the course of a month or so

>> No.6328575

>>6328470
If it can help, I tried reading the book a few times but couldn't get into it.But on a travel back from holidays, when I was in a state of extreme tiredness the words seemed to flow and every situation described by the author was as reel as can be.From then on the book as became one of my favourite.
So I guess you should be in the right state of mind, and by no means force yourself to read it.