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Louis-Ferdinand CELINE

Manuscrits autographes signés inédits de deux importantes parties de Normance (Féérie pour une autre fois II)

Meudon 1954, 20x27cm, 16 feuillets (9 pour le premier manuscrit + 7 pour le second).

"What is Normance? A six-meter drop on the first page and, for three hundred and seventy-five minutes, in free fall, a plunge into a mad memory and a hallucinated imagination" René Chabbert, "Normance par L.-F. Céline", Dimanche matin, 29 August 1954.

Two unpublished autograph manuscripts signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline in blue and red ballpoint pen: the first contains 9 pages numbered in the left-hand corner from 1480 to 1488; the second contains 7 pages numbered from 1498 to 1504. Each text is signed by Céline in red ink at the bottom margin, with the words "Meudon 54" also in his hand (ff. 1485 and 1505). There are numerous variants, lines and words crossed out, modified and repeated.
Traces of pinholes in the upper left-hand margin of every sheet, as Céline organized his manuscripts in "bundles".
Normance was published in 1954 as a sequel to 'Fable for Another Time' published two years earlier. Both parts were written during Céline's years of exile and imprisonment in Denmark. Upon his return to France in 1951, Céline began "polishing" his writings and published these two monumental texts, initially envisaged as a single book. "Céline, while he was working on it, thought of this novel as a second ‘Journey to the End of the Night' twenty years later, capable to astonish the public as much as the 1932 novel" (Henri Godard).
This set of manuscript pages corresponds to two passages from the second half of the novel (Romans, Pléiade, IV, p. 371 to 375), significantly different from the published text. This is an earlier version, unknown to scholar Henri Godard, as evidenced by a note in the Pléiade edition where he explains the difficulties encountered by Céline's secretary Marie Canavaggia when translating the word "planqaouzeuze" - appearing here on one of the manuscript leaves. Her transcription "plaquouseuze" eventually remained in the published text. Godard further stated he had no knowledge of this part of the manuscript, i.e. our manuscript, not appearing in the intermediate versions transcribed and published in the Pléiade edition.
The first of the manuscripts recounts the ransacking and looting of psychic Armelle's apartment: "How many decks did Armelle have? Her fortune-telling cards were taking the air! [...] Ah, seeress! Something she hadn't guessed was how her trembles would be tarred! They'd rip open her armchairs, crush her fine hiding places! ah Pythonisse! ah the quilt now! the inside of the pillows flies! flies away!" Céline also evokes Madame Toiselle, the building's concierge: "- It's a mess, Madame Toiselle. I yell it at her... she was a maniac! [...] moron! she's looking now! she's looking good! ah I see her consternation...she's there in front of me on all fours. I can see her head! Her hoe! - Omelette head!" I shout to her, ‘Omelette head'!”
The second focuses on Raymond, in the grip of a delirious crisis, thinking he's a donkey: "Raymond Raymond! but it's your wife you're looking for! it's true he was looking for his wife...! well maybe five minutes ago he was looking for his wife! Denise! ... now he's looking for himself. [...] - Hiian! hiiian! he answers me!” There's also a comical settling of scores between Mimi and Rodolphe: "There goes Mimi, then there goes Rodolphe! Rodolphe! they're coming! and how they're treating each other! where were they? on the threshold, the two of them! they're taking advantage of the lull in the bombs! - Pig! Pimp! - Cabotine! coureuse! and they attack their costumes... "
Remarkable manuscripts bearing witness to Céline's tireless pursuit in finding the right word, and his willingness to place himself as a direct witness to events both historical and autobiographical.
These unpublished manuscript lines are typical of the Celinian style of this ambitious novel: "The story, style and tone of Normance set it apart from the rest. It is nothing more than the long account of a night of bombing in Montmartre, told in his own way by Céline, who had been deeply impressed by the spectacle of the bombing of the Renault automobile factories in Boulogne-Billancourt, which he had witnessed from the windows of his apartment in Rue Girardon. The book is dedicated to Pliny the Elder, who also witnessed, then chronicled, a fantastic spectacle: the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It's a vast fresco where noise plays an important role [...]" (F. Gibault, Céline - 1944-1961: Cavalier de l'Apocalypse).
The profusion of noise is a defining characteristic of the two manuscripts where Céline uses onomatopoeia and shouted dialogues between characters: "Crrac! she tears a piece...a piece of pants to the ferocious one! she opens all the front ! ... Crrac!... like that!... no matter how hard he slaps her (sic)! sorry! she wins! she wins. - You've got it! you've got it! he shouts... You've got what?... I don't know...Ah it's the vulnéraire! ...but so what?"
The very handwriting of the manuscript shows the writing fervor of these action-packed scenes, as if he were reliving them as he wrote them, crossing out entire passages and hesitating over the choice of words: "... there are nasty explosions not far away and lightning bolts! ... the ground jerks less and dildos less... but the other one neighs in my ear... and cries out its distress - Raymond! Raymond he [in red pen: re] still searches!... [crossed out: the explosions are spacing out...the lightning] the explosions are rather [crossed out: less / less / almost / hard / close]"
Remarkable unpublished signed autograph manuscripts of a novel that required a colossal editorial effort from Céline: "This book has cost me an enormous amount of work and time." (Letter to Claude Gallimard, 26 February, 1954).
 

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