Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches (27 May 1894 – 1 July 1961), known as Louis-Ferdinand Céline, was a French writer, doctor, and person who expressed strong opinions. His first book, Journey to the End of the Night (1932), won the Prix Renaudot award but caused disagreement among critics. This was because Céline wrote about life in a negative way and used the language of working people. In later books like Death on the Installment Plan (1936), Guignol's Band (1944), and Castle to Castle (1957), Céline created a unique writing style. Maurice Nadeau said, "What Joyce did for English, and what the surrealists tried to do for French, Céline did easily and on a large scale."
Starting in 1937, Céline wrote books that promoted harmful beliefs about Jewish people and supported a military partnership with Nazi Germany. During Nazi control of France, he continued to spread these harmful views. After Allied forces landed in Normandy in 1944, he fled to Germany and then Denmark, where he lived in exile. A French court found him guilty of helping the enemy in 1951, but a military court later pardoned him. He returned to France and continued working as a doctor and writer.
Céline is widely regarded as one of the most important French novelists of the 20th century. His books influenced many later writers. However, he remains a controversial figure in France because of his harmful beliefs and actions during World War II.
Biography
He was the only child of Fernand Destouches and Marguerite-Louise-Céline Guilloux. He was born Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches in 1894 in Courbevoie, a town near Paris in the Seine region (now part of Hauts-de-Seine). His father's family came from Normandy, and his mother's family came from Brittany. His father worked as a manager for an insurance company, and his mother owned a small shop where she sold antique lace. In 1905, he received his Certificat d'études, a basic school certificate. After that, he worked as an apprentice and messenger boy in different trades.
Between 1908 and 1910, his parents sent him to Germany and England for a year each to learn foreign languages. From the time he left school until he turned 18, he worked many different jobs, but he often left them after short periods. He started by working for silk sellers and jewelers as an errand boy and later as a salesperson for a local goldsmith. Even though he was not in school, he used money he earned to buy books and studied on his own. Around this time, he thought about becoming a doctor.
In 1912, he joined the French army (a choice he described as a rebellion against his parents) and served for three years in the 12th Cuirassier Regiment in Rambouillet. At first, he did not like military life and considered leaving. But he adapted and eventually became a sergeant. When World War I began, his unit saw action. On October 25, 1914, he volunteered to deliver a message during heavy German fire near Ypres. He was wounded in his right arm during the mission. He suffered severe headaches and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) for the rest of his life. For his bravery, he was awarded the médaille militaire in November 1914. His story appeared in the weekly magazine l'Illustré National in November 1915. He later wrote that his wartime experiences made him deeply dislike war.
In March 1915, he was sent to London to work in the French passport office. At night, he visited music halls and places where people in London's underworld gathered. He claimed to have met Mata Hari, a famous dancer. He later used these experiences in his novel Guignol's Band (1944). In September 1915, he was declared unfit for military service and left the army. Before returning to France, he married Suzanne Nebout, a French dancer, but their marriage was not officially recorded, and they soon separated.
In 1916, he worked for the Forestry Company of Sangha-Oubangui in French-administered Cameroon. He managed a plantation, a trading post, and ran a pharmacy for local people, getting medical supplies from his parents in France. He left Africa in April 1917 because of poor health. His time in Africa made him dislike colonialism and increased his interest in medicine.
In March 1918, he worked for the Rockefeller Foundation, traveling around Brittany to teach people about tuberculosis and hygiene. He met Dr. Athanase Follet, a doctor at the University of Rennes, and became close to Follet's daughter, Édith. Dr. Follet encouraged him to become a doctor, and Céline studied for his baccalaureate part-time, passing his exams in July 1919. He married Édith in August 1919.
Céline enrolled in the Medical Faculty at Rennes in April 1920. In June 1920, Édith gave birth to their daughter, Collette Destouches. In 1923, he moved to the University of Paris and completed his dissertation, The Life and Work of Philippe-Ignace Semmelweis (1818–1865), in May 1924. This work was later called "a Célinian novel in miniature."
In June 1924, he joined the Health Department of the League of Nations in Geneva, leaving his wife and daughter in Rennes. His job required him to travel across Europe, Africa, Canada, the United States, and Cuba. He used his experiences with the League to write his play L'Église (The Church), published in 1933.
Édith divorced him in June 1926. A few months later, he met Elizabeth Craig, an American dancer studying in Geneva. They stayed together for six years, during which he became a well-known writer. He later said, "I wouldn't have amounted to anything without her."
In late 1927, he left the League of Nations and started a medical practice in Clichy, a working-class area of Paris. The practice was not profitable, so he worked at a public clinic and for a pharmaceutical company. In 1929, he gave up his private practice and moved to Montmartre with Elizabeth. He continued working at the clinic and for companies while writing his first novel, Voyage au bout de la nuit (Journey to the End of the Night), which he finished in late 1931.
Voyage au bout de la nuit was published in October 1932 and received wide attention. Although he used the pen name Céline to stay anonymous, the press soon discovered his identity. The novel had supporters and critics from all political views. Some praised its themes of anti-colonialism and anti-militarism, while others criticized it as vulgar. The book was a top contender for the Prix Goncourt in 1932. When the prize went to another author, it caused a scandal and increased the novel's popularity. It sold 50,000 copies in two months.
Despite the success of Voyage, Céline continued his medical work at the Clichy clinic and private labs. He also began writing a novel about his childhood and youth, which became Mort à crédit (Death on the Installment Plan, 1936). In June 1933, Elizabeth Craig returned permanently to America. Céline visited her in Los Angeles the next year but could not convince her to return.
Céline did not take a public stand on the rise of Nazism in France, saying in 193
Antisemitism, fascism and collaboration
Céline's first two novels did not include clear examples of antisemitism. However, his later books, Bagatelles pour un massacre (Trifles for a Massacre) (1937) and L'École des cadavres (The School of Corpses) (1938), strongly opposed Jewish people. Many on the far-right in France supported Céline's antisemitism, but some people, like Brasillach, worried that his harsh words might not help their cause. Biographer Frédéric Vitoux states that Céline became the most well-known and influential voice for antisemitism before the war because of the strength of his words and the respect they received.
After France lost the war in June 1940, Céline continued to publicly oppose Jewish people. In 1941, he wrote a book called Les beaux draps (A Fine Mess), where he said, "France is Jewish and Masonic, once and for all." He also wrote over thirty letters, interviews, and answers to questions for newspapers that supported the enemy during the war, including many statements that opposed Jewish people. A German officer named Ernst Jünger wrote in his diary that Céline told him on December 7, 1941, that he was surprised the Germans did not try to kill French Jews. Some Nazis thought Céline's extreme words about Jewish people might actually hurt their cause. Bernhard Payr, a German official in charge of propaganda in France, said Céline started with correct ideas about race but ruined them with his harsh language and offensive words.
Céline's attitude toward fascism was unclear. In 1937 and 1938, he supported a military alliance between France and Germany to protect France from war and Jewish influence. However, Vitoux argues that Céline's main goal was to avoid war at all costs, not to support Hitler. After the French Popular Front won an election in 1936, Céline believed socialist leader Léon Blum and communist leader Maurice Thorez were bigger threats to France than Hitler. He said, "I'd prefer a dozen Hitlers to one all-powerful Blum."
Although Céline claimed he was not a fascist and never joined a fascist group, in December 1941, he publicly supported creating a single party to unite the French far-right. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, he supported Jacques Doriot's group, the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF). However, Merlin Thomas says Céline did not follow any clear fascist ideas except his attacks on Jewish people. Paul Baxa argues that even though Céline did not present a specific fascist plan, his views and actions made him a natural supporter of fascism.
After the war, Céline was found guilty of actions that could harm national security because of his membership in the collaborationist group Cercle Européen (which he denied) and his writings for newspapers that supported the enemy. Vitoux says Céline did not join any committees or work for any government, nor did he help the German ambassador, the Gestapo, or the Central Jewish Office. However, Vitoux also says Céline's writings strongly influenced French attitudes, supported antisemitism, and made people more accepting of the Germans. That cannot be denied.
Literary themes and style
Céline's books show a negative view of life. They describe human suffering as unavoidable, death as permanent, and hopes for happiness or progress as false. He portrays a world without rules or fairness, where the powerful harm the weak. Patrick McCarthy, a writer who studied Céline's life, says that Céline's characters suffer from a deep, unreasoning hatred, and there is no God to help them. Céline believed that people hate without cause, not because they were hurt, but simply because they must.
Merlin Thomas, a literary expert, says that Céline's experiences in war deeply influenced his writing. War is a theme in most of his books, except Death on the Installment Plan. In Journey to the End of the Night, Céline shows war as a senseless force that turns people into animals focused only on surviving. McCarthy says that for Céline, war is the clearest example of the evil in human life.
A common idea in Céline's stories is the struggle to survive in a dangerous world. Though Céline's characters cannot change their fate, McCarthy notes that they can choose how they face death. They can avoid being killed randomly in battle or distracted by meaningless activities. Instead, they can accept death in a painful but honorable way.
Merlin Thomas explains that Céline's anti-hero often chooses to resist. He says that even weak people can gain strength by taking away the power of those they fear. This defiance, Thomas adds, offers a small hope and a way to find personal meaning.
Thomas also points out that Céline's narrator finds comfort in beauty and creativity. He is moved by the physical beauty of people and the grace of movement. For Céline, ballet and ballerinas represent artistic and human beauty. McCarthy says that Céline often describes movement as a dance and tries to write in a way that matches the rhythm of music. However, this dance is always the "danse macabre," a symbol of death that destroys everything.
Céline criticized the French literary style that valued elegance and clarity. Instead, he wanted to write in a way that directly showed strong emotions. He believed there were two ways to tell stories: one that moves slowly, like cars on a street, and another that dives deeply into the feelings and details of life, like a subway train moving quickly through a city.
Céline was a major change in French writing. His first two books, Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan, shocked critics with their use of language. He used the speech of working-class people, medical and nautical terms, made-up words, and slang from soldiers, sailors, and criminals. He also used punctuation in a unique way, such as many ellipses and exclamation marks. Thomas says that Céline's use of three dots divides text into rhythmic parts, allowing for fast or slow pacing and creating a poetic, dreamlike style.
Céline called his writing style "little music." McCarthy says that in Fables for Another Time, Céline's anger leads him to write in a style that mixes poetry and music. His writing style changed over time to match the themes of his books. In his final trilogy of war stories—Castle to Castle, North, and Rigadoon—McCarthy notes that the world fades into nothingness. These books use short, simple sentences, as if language and reality are dissolving together.
Legacy
Céline is widely regarded as one of the most important French novelists of the twentieth century. According to George Steiner, two major bodies of work shaped the style and themes of twentieth-century storytelling: those of Céline and those of Proust.
Many writers have admired Céline’s work, but McCarthy notes that his unique position in modern literature comes from his bleak view of life and his unusual writing style. Writers like Sartre and Camus, who were part of the absurd movement, were influenced by Céline but did not share his extreme pessimism or political beliefs. Alain Robbe-Grillet said Céline greatly influenced the nouveau-roman, a type of modern novel. Günter Grass also showed influence from Céline’s style. Patrick Modiano admired Céline’s writing and created a parody of his style in his first novel, La place de l'étoile. McCarthy and O’Connell also mention American writers like Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, and Kurt Vonnegut as being influenced by Céline.
Céline remains a controversial figure in France. In 2011, the 50th anniversary of his death, he was initially included on an official list of 500 people and events to be celebrated as part of French culture. However, after protests, Frédéric Mitterrand, then the French Minister of Culture and Communication, removed Céline from the list due to his antisemitic writings.
In December 2017, the French government and Jewish leaders raised concerns about plans by the publisher Gallimard to republish Céline’s antisemitic books. In January 2018, Gallimard announced it would stop the publication. In March 2018, the publisher clarified it still intended to publish a critical edition of the books with scholarly introductions.
In August 2021, it was reported that a collection of Céline’s unpublished manuscripts, including La Volonté du roi Krogold and Londres, as well as 6,000 pages of previously published works (Casse-pipe, Mort à crédit, Journey to the End of the Night), had been handed over to the Nanterre police by a Libération journalist, Jean-Pierre Thibaudat, in March 2020. These manuscripts had been missing since Céline fled Paris in 1944. David Alliot, a French writer and Céline expert, said it will take many years for these writings to be fully studied and published. In September 2021, Oliver Kamm wrote in The Jewish Chronicle that Céline should be "forgotten." The discovery of the manuscripts was called "one of the greatest literary finds of the past century but also one of the most troubling."
In May 2022, Gallimard published Céline’s Guerre (War). In October 2022, Londres (London) was published. This novel was likely written in 1934 and includes a Jewish doctor as a key character.