Louis-Ferdinand Céline

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"Here's the truth, simply stated . . . bookstores are suffering from a serious crisis of falling sales." So begins the imaginary interview that comprises this novel. Professor Y, the interviewing academic, asks questions that allow Céline, a character in his own book, the chance to rail against convention and defend his idiosyncratic methods. In the course of their outrageous interplay, Céline comes closer to defining and justifying his poetics than in any of his other novels. But this is more than just an interview. As the book moves forward, Professor Y reveals his real identity and the characters travel through the streets of Paris toward a bizarre climax that parodies the author, the critic, and, most of all, the establishment.

ISBN-10 1-56478-449-5

ISBN-13 9781564784490

Publication Date Jun 2006

Nb of pages 156

Dimensions 5.5 x 8.5 in.

Onix What's this?

Here’s the truth, simply stated . . . bookstores are suffering from a serious crisis of falling sales. Don’t believe a single zero of all those editions claimed to be 100,000! 40,000! . . . even 400 copies! just for the suckers! Alack! . . . Alas! . . . only love and romance . . . and even then! . . . manage to keep selling . . . and a few murder mysteries . . . rather wanly . . . Matter of fact, nothing is selling . . . bad times! . . . Movies, TV, appliances, mopeds, big cars, little cars, middle-sized cars really hurt book sales . . . credit merchandise! imagine! and weekends! . . . and those good old two! three month! vacations . . . and posh cruises! . . . hi there, little budgets! . . . watch those debts! . . . not a red cent to spare! . . . so, you know, buying a book! . . . a camper? well! . . . but a book? . . . easiest thing to borrow there is! . . . a book gets read, for sure, by at least twenty . . twenty-five consumers! what a windfall! . . . the miracle of the shared loaves would set you dreaming, would set you dreaming, but the miracle of the shared books, and the writer working for free, is a well-established fact. This miracle takes place, no fuss, at the secondhand counters or, a bit more nicely, in reading rooms, and so forth and so on … In every case the author goes a-begging. That’s the main thing! The author is assumed, of course, to possess a bankroll of his own, an income from some eminent Person, or to have discovered the secret (greater than atomic fission), of living without the feedbag. Besides, any person of importance (privileged, stuffed with dividends) will affirm as a matter of faith, no malice intended, that only poverty can bring out the genius in a man . . . that it is fitting for the artist to suffer! . . . and no small bit! . . . a great deal! . . . since he gestates best when in pain! . . . when Pain is Master! (M. Socle) . . . and besides, everyone knows that prison does no harm to the artist . . . on the contrary! . . . that the true life of the true artist is a long or a short game of tag with prison, before he’s “it” . . . and that the scaffold, no matter how awesome it appears, will fix him up good . . . the scaffold, you might say, is awaiting every artist. The artist who escapes the scaffold (or gallows, if you prefer) may be, at least after age forty, considered trivial . . . Since he has charted his own course, become noticed, it is normal and natural that he be made an example of, punished exemplarily . . . all the windows are rented, already, at a stiff price, to attend his anguish, see him grimace at last, sincerely! Place de la Concorde, for instance . . . the crowd is already yanking out the trees, turning the Tuileire Gardens into an immense open space! to get a better look at his mug before they cut off his head, oh! ever so gently! with a tiny little blade . . . clown’s end, what they’re waiting for, not so much that he’s a cuckold, insipid pleasure! it’s having him bound to the trestle! or to the wheel! and making him howl there four . . . five hours . . . that’s what lies ahead of the artist! or clown! . . . b’God! . . . he only escapes their conniving brew by even greater cunning, brownnosing, hypocrisy, or by membership in an Academy . . . the big one or the little, or a Sacristy . . . or Political Party . . . just so many risky havens! . . . let’s not kid ourselves! how often they turn out for the worst, those so-called havens! . . . and those “commitments” . . . Great Grief! . . . even for those who have several “connections”! . . . They’re all pacts with the Devil! . . .

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