Celine Secret

by Véronique Robert-Chovin, L. Destouches, Robert Véronique

165pages. in8. broché.

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Esdaile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I presume this is Mein Leben mit Celine which I read in German! I had a strong feeling that Lucette Destouches was leant on to write this account, probably in the hope of raising a little money. I did not much enjoy it. It contained all the depression of Celine without his perverse dark lyricism. On the other hand, it provides some insights into the writer's private sphere which are intriguing; intriguing too I found the writer's devotion, I would say slavish devotion, to an extremely difficult and not apparently very grateful man. However two things I learnt from this account about Celine and his wife which struck me forcibly and I had not been aware of. One is Celine's devotion to the French language, an observation made here by his wife which requires thought and analysis; after all, at first glance, a work by Celine at least any work after Mort à Credit, reads more like a massacre and supreme disregard of the French language than a hommage to it. Such is certainly a superficial reaction but an understandable reaction, all the more given Celine's notorious and all pervasive pessimism, which his wife assures us was in no way an artistic pose or affectation or mask but rather an earnest intonation of his depeest dark nature. The second significant fact is the preference to animals over humans which husband and wife shared. His wife kept a menangerie of animals especially cats (core, her home must have been whiffy!) and in Nord Bebert's name seems to feature more prominently than that of Lucette or his actor friend whose name, perhaps this is no coincidence, I have forgotten. Wait de Vigan I think he was called, obviously a character who is not portrayed in Nord at all, as though Celine could not be bothered to present a close friend in any kind of light. Celine's characters come and go as beings, "characters" with charcateristics and individuality but without soul. That is not surprising. Celine is the last person to believe in anything so optimistic, lyrical or sentimental as a human soul. They are manifestations of vice (hardly ever virtue and the vitims or perpetrators of terrible or bizarre acts. For Lucette, instead of the language of literature there is the language of dance, and is in dance and not in words that she sought to express her emotions, her sorrow and sadness and joy too, although there is little joy in this deeply sad book. After all, perhaps they were deeply right for one another, misogynists of a feather.

[Granny Sebestyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

" Céline secret" de Véronique Robert avec Lucette Destouche (167p)
Ed. Grasset

Bonjour les fous de lectures... les fous de Céline.

Voici un récit très court et aéré façon Nothomb où Lucette survole les 25 ans de vie qu'elle a partagé avec Louis.
Elle se raconte à son amie Véronique qu'elle connait depuis plus de 30 ans.

Lecture agréable et même si on n'apprend pas grand chose de neuf sur la vie de l'écrivain, certaines facettes de l'homme se dévoilent et surtout la vie de Lucette qui lui a été entièrement consacrée et qui n'a tenu le coup que grâce à la danse.
Lucette a eu des passions dans sa vie: les animaux, la danse mais essentiellement Louis, rien que Louis, toujours Louis.
Pour Louis, elle a tout supporté, tout abandonné.
Pour Louis, elle va connaitre l'exil, le bannissement.
Louis qu'elle défendra bec et ongles malgré les erreurs de celui-ci qu'elle balayera toujours d'un geste dérisoire.

Ce livre se termine sur une note de souffrance, celle de l'abandon, de la solitude, de la dépendance.
Pour cette ancienne danseuse qui a tant vu, connu, vaincu, la mort est bien longue à venir.
Elle l'a attendue pendant plus de 50 ans