Entretiens avec le Professeur Y

First edition, one of 85 numbered copies on pur fil, deluxe copies after 36 on Holland paper.

Handsome copy.

The first part of Féerie pour une autre fois having failed to achieve the expected success, Céline wished to surround the release of the second part - Normance - with maximum publicity and restore his reputation after his years of exile in Germany and Denmark. Wishing to distance himself from the solemn form of the publisher's slip, he proposed to Gaston Gallimard this eulogy written in the manner of an imaginary interview between himself and Professor Y alias Colonel Réséda, a prostatic old man. The text of this zany « interviouwe » would be published in several parts in the Nouvelle Revue française in 1954 before appearing in volume form in 1955. The writer speaks with fervor about his style, his conception of literature and vehemently criticizes the literary world and public taste.