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Journey to the End of the Night
(Ferdinand Bardamu #1)
by
,
Louis-Ferdinand Celine's revulsion and anger at what he considered the idiocy and hypocrisy of society explodes from nearly every page of this novel. Filled with slang and obscenities and written in raw, colloquial language, Journey to the End of the Night is a literary symphony of violence, cruelty and obscene nihilism. This book shocked most critics when it was first
...more
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Paperback, 453 pages
Expected publication:
March 31st 2020
by New Directions
(first published 1932)
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Whoa. Just finished, processing, mulling, wondering…what do I say? How do you prepare someone? Should someone be prepared (I wasn’t)? Imagine the most depressing story you’ve ever read (and I’ve read ALL of McCarthy), narrated by the angriest of narrators (who may mellow, then again, maybe readers simply become hardened), describing circumstances that are necessarily ugly (war, colonial Africa) or merely simply ugly (contemporary culture, old people, young people, other people), but then told
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“Not much music left inside us for life to dance to. Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth. And where, I ask you, can a man escape to, when he hasn't enough madness left inside him? The truth is an endless death agony. The truth is death. You have to choose: death or lies. I've never been able to kill myself.”
Toni Servillo is Jep Gambardella in The Great Beauty
I watched the Italian film The Great Beauty the other day. The film opens with a quote by ...more

Toni Servillo is Jep Gambardella in The Great Beauty
I watched the Italian film The Great Beauty the other day. The film opens with a quote by ...more

648. Voyage au bout de la nuit = Journey to The End of The Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Journey to the End of the Night (Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932) is the first novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This semi-autobiographical work describes antihero Ferdinand Bardamu. Bardamu is involved with World War I, colonial Africa, and post–World War I United States (where he works for the Ford Motor Company), returning in the second half of the novel to France, where he becomes a medical doctor and ...more
Journey to the End of the Night (Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932) is the first novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This semi-autobiographical work describes antihero Ferdinand Bardamu. Bardamu is involved with World War I, colonial Africa, and post–World War I United States (where he works for the Ford Motor Company), returning in the second half of the novel to France, where he becomes a medical doctor and ...more

Dec 03, 2018
İntellecta
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
french-literature
Journey to the End of the Night "tells about the life of medical students". Ferdinand Bardamu, from the First World War on bush stories in the deepest Africa and a galley trip to America until the return to France as a poor doctor.
The novel carries mainly autobiographical features. How Celine marches his protagonist Bardamu as a worker, doctor, people and lover through the turmoil of war and the societies in Africa, America and Paris. With one language ahead of the next, Celine's focus on ...more
The novel carries mainly autobiographical features. How Celine marches his protagonist Bardamu as a worker, doctor, people and lover through the turmoil of war and the societies in Africa, America and Paris. With one language ahead of the next, Celine's focus on ...more

From the muddy battlegrounds of the great war and the sweltering infested jungles of French colonial Africa, to his discovery of america where he takes a job in an industrial Detroit and his return to the suburbs of Paris to work as a doctor before finally taking employment in a mental asylum, we follow Céline's alter ego Bardamu with a misanthropic first person narrative through the trials and tribulations of life and trying to make sense of the world around him. Told as a semi-autobiographical
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Apparently, for a week or so in June 1997 I either lost my sense of humor or felt some kind of glow of optimism that made me feel the misanthropic subject of this book was boring. My principle memories of reading this for the first time were a) being bored and b) buying a bunch of The Smiths and The Cure tapes at a garage sale.
For some reason when I saw this book sitting on my bookshelf last week I thought I'd give it another try. Why? I don't know exactly. I have lots of unread books, but I ...more
For some reason when I saw this book sitting on my bookshelf last week I thought I'd give it another try. Why? I don't know exactly. I have lots of unread books, but I ...more

“The sunsets in that African hell proved to be fabulous. They never missed. As tragic every time as a monumental murder of the sun! But the marvel was too great for one man alone. For a whole hour the sky paraded in great delirious spurts of scarlet from end to end; after that the green of the trees exploded and rose up in quivering trails to meet the first stars. Then the whole horizon turned gray again and then red, but this time a tired red that didn’t last long. That was the end. All the
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just finished reading it and it really feels like it might be the central book of the entire 20th century. i see catch-22 and henry miller and william burroughs and kerouac and sartre and beckett and bukowski and vonnegut and hunter s. thompson and bret easton ellis and about a million other people... celine's voice is just so clear now, standing behind all of them... it's not even that i like the book so much (though it's ferocious and fun and has a lot of great lines), it's just that it's like
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Celine’s Journey to the End of Night is a towering achievement in literary observation through a narrator incapable of self-delusion and a less than stringent filter between his thoughts and his audience. Plus, it’s funny as hell.
The novel reads as the author’s travelogue through war-torn Europe, remote Africa, industrialized America, and post-war France. I have no idea how much of Journey to the End of Night is factual and how much is fiction, and I don’t care either way. At points Celine ...more
The novel reads as the author’s travelogue through war-torn Europe, remote Africa, industrialized America, and post-war France. I have no idea how much of Journey to the End of Night is factual and how much is fiction, and I don’t care either way. At points Celine ...more

Preface to the 1952 Gallimard Edition
--Journey to the End of the Night
Glossary
Afterword, by William T. Vollmann
--Journey to the End of the Night
Glossary
Afterword, by William T. Vollmann

Jan 05, 2008
Alison
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Teenagers that just don't give a fuck; Fans of Burroughs and Jim Morrison (probably also teenagers)
Fifteen years of sitting on my bookshelves and I finally get around to reading it. This is a little bit sad, because I would have loved this book fifteen years ago, when I believed bitter misanthropy and self-indulgent misery were the only true lenses through which humanity should be viewed. Of course, I was in high school at the time (and it was boarding school at that),so that explained it.
At age thirty-two, Journey to the End of the Night set somewhat differently with me. Ferdinand Bardamu's ...more
At age thirty-two, Journey to the End of the Night set somewhat differently with me. Ferdinand Bardamu's ...more

Our Journey...
"To travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength."
Celine's first novel begins with the words, "Here's how it started" and finishes "...and that would be the end of us."
In between is a journey that takes in childhood, family life, service in the great war, recuperation in a hospital, an adventure in the heart of darkness of colonial Africa, a liberating voyage across the Atlantic, ...more
"To travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength."
Celine's first novel begins with the words, "Here's how it started" and finishes "...and that would be the end of us."
In between is a journey that takes in childhood, family life, service in the great war, recuperation in a hospital, an adventure in the heart of darkness of colonial Africa, a liberating voyage across the Atlantic, ...more

“Misery is like some horrible woman you’ve married. Maybe it’s better to end up loving her a little than to knock yourself out beating her all your life. Since obviously you won’t be able to bump her off.”
Journey to the End of the Night is an exceptionally well-written, scathingly intelligent novel. In it, you encounter the refreshingly misanthropic Bardamu, who leaves France after WWI and travels to Africa and America before coming back to France and the end of the night. It certainly does ...more

Céline was a pretty unsavory human being. An anti-Semite, a misogynist, pretty much full of hate all around. And yet, a fucking amazing writer. His French is both beautiful and vulgar, heart-rending and repulsive, full of interesting characters and yet completely alone. Voyage au bout de la nuit also exists as a graphic novel by Tardi. It is a completely unforgettable novel of devastating beauty that needs to be taken for the literature it is without too much concern for the tortured man that
...more

Poetic nihilism - dissecting the cadaver of existential absurdity not to find a cause of death; but simply because the cuts pass the time in the morgue with a locked door. Truly disturbing: very graphic descriptions of violence and sex.

Oct 10, 2012
MJ Nicholls
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to MJ by:
Mike Puma
Shelves:
novels,
pernod-and-gauloises
A full-on misanthropic epic, like if E.M. Cioran met Thom Yorke for a fly pie in a Nigerian slum. Céline is a deliberately choppy, lawless stylist, Dostoevskian in his fondness for the nerve-racked ellipsis and the hysterical exclamation point (tics that would characterise his later, practically unreadable, work). Bardamu is the Céline stand-in whose detached cruelty acts as a necessary galvaniser for his adventures in WWI, French-occupied African hinterlands and a stint in a freshly
...more

All you who are reading these very lines right now, are waiting for a review, an analysis maybe of Journey to the End of the Night, I bet. Well, I regret to say that I'll most probably disappoint you. In fact -and I don't mean to talk down the admittedly great job some reviewers have done here- I don't think one can properly review this book. You can talk about it or the way you felt reading it but the true essence of it should be experienced through reading it and not some ridiculous review a
...more

This is undoubtedly one of the great novels. It is misanthropic in the extreme; the author really doesn’t like anyone, including himself. Often written in the vernacular, brutal, comic and ranging over three continents and a World War. There is a strong element of the autobiographical in it. It has also influenced more great writers than you can shake a sock at. The list is a remarkable one; Beckett, Sartre (briefly). Genet, Barthes, Miller, Bukowski, Heller, Vonnegut, Ken Kesey, Kerouac, Gunter
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“The sadness of the world has different ways of getting to people, but it seems to succeed almost every time.”
"When you start hiding from people, it's a sign that you're afraid to play with them. That in itself is a disease. We should try to find out why we refuse to get cured of loneliness. "
Reading Journey is like listening to a drunk old man - the kind one sees in those cowboy movies, telling you why his life sucks. He can't talk about a woman without talking about her legs and there are ...more

Journey to the End of the Night was not what I expected. Based on the cover art and description, I had prepared myself for a grim and sombre voyage to the depths of human depravity. Maybe the book simply hasn't aged well, but I thought it was really quite tame - not at all the "literary symphony of violence, cruelty and obscene nihilism" that is promised in the description. And where it does try to push the boundaries, it seems to do so in a very superficial way - for cheap adolescent shock
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We will not consider the personal politics or prejudices of this author, if only to quell / pacify the legions of followers who attend my words throughout the globe, (about 3 people or less).
Let’s forget the bad stuff that every country produces and rather we will recall some of the behemoths and wonders that France has purveyed.
Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Monet, Gauguin.
Diderot, Sartre, Descartes, Camus.
Stendhal, de Balzac, Hugo (his masterpiece is unequaled).
Escoffier, Roger Verge, Bocuse (david, ...more
Let’s forget the bad stuff that every country produces and rather we will recall some of the behemoths and wonders that France has purveyed.
Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Monet, Gauguin.
Diderot, Sartre, Descartes, Camus.
Stendhal, de Balzac, Hugo (his masterpiece is unequaled).
Escoffier, Roger Verge, Bocuse (david, ...more

Warning: If you've experienced melancholia or been diagnosed with depression, reading this novel may be inadvisable.
<3.7 stars>
"A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word." Ralph Waldo Emerson
From Journey to the End of the Night:
<3.7 stars>
"A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word." Ralph Waldo Emerson
From Journey to the End of the Night:
The sadness of the world has different ways of getting to people, but it seems to succeed almost every time....more
****
I cannot refrain from doubting that there exist any genuine realizations of our deepest character except war and illness, those two infinities

Hilarious, scathing and-oh-so-very-bitter, Journey to the End of the Night is a beautifully written - and translated - paean to misanthropy and the general crumminess of man. The novel comprises the journeys of Céline's alter-ego, Ferdinand Bardemu, from a frightened and bewildered soldier in World War I to the jungles of Central Africa, the materialist and well-kept streets of a booming America, and back again to France to eke out a living as a listless doctor amongst the petty-bourgeois of the
...more

Finally, after a busy week, I have finished my journey to the end of this book. Savage, brutal, disgusting, repulsive, and misanthropic are not necessarily adjectives I would use to describe a masterpiece, but with Celine, they're all meant as compliments.
Is it the most pessimistically scathing book ever written? I think so.
Is it the most pessimistically scathing book ever written? I think so.

The depth and honesty of this book I think, are often misunderstood as being purely cynical, and depressing. Celine sees the complexities of humanity and gives it to you straight.The truth is an ugly thing to face, but there is beauty here too, not only in the prose, but also in the life lived in these pages. I see some light in his darkness. Don't get me wrong, I don't like people much.

This is where I drew the line when I was studying French litterature in Uni. Years after, I still can't do it. Fuck you, Louis-Ferdinand. All your writing style just can't redeem your racist, mysogynist ramblings.
One might say this is fiction. This is NOT. Not when the same author wrote racist pamphlets and repeated the same awful ideas publicly.
...more
One might say this is fiction. This is NOT. Not when the same author wrote racist pamphlets and repeated the same awful ideas publicly.
...more

A nihilistic freight train.
First published in French in 1932, this is still readable and relevant and could be seen as a clarion call for all the pent-up cynicism and aggression of Generation X.
This has been wildly influential and while Celine’s prose may seem pedestrian to a post-modern reader, it is because so many write like him now – we must imagine what a trailblazer this was in the 30s. I can see how this has influenced Joseph Heller, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski and ...more
First published in French in 1932, this is still readable and relevant and could be seen as a clarion call for all the pent-up cynicism and aggression of Generation X.
This has been wildly influential and while Celine’s prose may seem pedestrian to a post-modern reader, it is because so many write like him now – we must imagine what a trailblazer this was in the 30s. I can see how this has influenced Joseph Heller, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski and ...more

Originally, I thought about writing an eloquent review of this book, but intentions do not always come to bear fruit. The longer I think about it, the less apt I am to do it, so, instead of procrastinating, I'm just going to 'wing it' live on GR.
Here it goes.
I first borrowed this book from a library, but did not finish it in time. Well, I went to a store and bought my own copy. This alone should be enough to tell you that I liked it.
Reading this book took me way longer than it should have, ...more
Here it goes.
I first borrowed this book from a library, but did not finish it in time. Well, I went to a store and bought my own copy. This alone should be enough to tell you that I liked it.
Reading this book took me way longer than it should have, ...more

There is an afterword by William Vollmann in the book (which incidentally starts with "Reader, fuck you!...You think I give a shit whether or not you've read this book? Or that Céline's ghost does? That would be the day!") which I found to be very cool. He asks, Why is Céline a great witer?:
Because he pisses on everything. He's got it all--plot, character, you name it! But it just keeps going right down the urinal! [...] The[se] scene changes become insane, ridiculous. Just when you start to ...more
Because he pisses on everything. He's got it all--plot, character, you name it! But it just keeps going right down the urinal! [...] The[se] scene changes become insane, ridiculous. Just when you start to ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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CdC - Gruppo di l...: Libro #31 - Viaggio al termine della notte | 4 | 18 | May 02, 2019 01:20PM | |
Oldtimer - Klasik...: Gecenin Sonuna Yolculuk - Kasım 2018 Modern Klasik Okuması | 5 | 38 | Nov 10, 2018 01:01PM | |
Letteratura Postm...: Cinquantottesimo GdL - Viaggio al termine della notte di Louis-Ferdinand Céline | 20 | 55 | Oct 24, 2018 02:16PM | |
Goodreads Librari...: Corrections | 3 | 19 | Apr 25, 2018 12:08PM | |
Goodreads Librari...: Add ISBN-13 | 3 | 14 | Apr 19, 2018 11:45AM |
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, pen name of Dr. Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, is best known for his works Voyage au bout de la nuit (Journey to the End of the Night), and Mort à crédit (Death on the Installment Plan). His highly innovative writing style using Parisian vernacular, vulgarities, and intentionally peppering ellipses throughout the text was used to evoke the cadence of speech.
Louis-Ferdinand ...more
Louis-Ferdinand ...more
Other books in the series
Ferdinand Bardamu
(2 books)
10 trivia questions
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“The sadness of the world has different ways of getting to people, but it seems to succeed almost every time.”
—
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“An unfamiliar city is a fine thing. That's the time and place when you can suppose that all the people you meet are nice. It's dream time. ”
—
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