Céline: A Biography

Céline: A Biography (French: La Vie de Céline, "the life of Céline") is a 1988 book by the French writer Frédéric Vitoux, on the author Louis-Ferdinand Céline. It was published in English in 1992.

Céline: A Biography
AuthorFrédéric Vitoux
Original titleLa Vie de Céline
TranslatorJesse Browner
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
PublisherÉditions Grasset
Publication date
13 January 1988
Published in English
29 April 1992
Pages596
ISBN9782246351719

Reception

James Sallis wrote in The Washington Post:

Biographer Vitoux, already a celebrated authority, surely has here the last word on Celine. His book is a marvel of research, of inclusiveness and discursive narration. It is also a marvel of balance, with the biographer, rather like his subject (and for all his obvious passion) standing forever curiously apart from the observing. ... If at the end of Vitoux's watershed work we still fail to know Celine fully, it has nothing to do with Vitoux's labors or insight, and everything to do with the simple fact that finally each of us remains a mystery.[1]

Publishers Weekly wrote: "The book provides a stunning portrait of Celine's progressive withdrawal from reality, accompanied by persecution manias, constant headaches and auditory hallucinations. Vitoux limns a prophet of decadence who hated war and colonialism and rattled the complacency of the well-to-do by proposing that cruel egoism dwells in the heart of every individual."[2] Kirkus Reviews called the book a "sympathetic, perfectly tuned biography of France's most word-wild, controversial novelist ever".[3]

References
  1. Sallis, James (1992-06-28). "Journey to the Heart of Celine". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  2. "Nonfiction Book Review: Celine: A Biography by Frederic Vitoux". Publishers Weekly. 1992-03-30. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  3. "Celine by Frédéric Vitoux". Kirkus Reviews. 1992-02-15. Retrieved 2017-01-11.


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