Truth and Untruth Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit and the Memory of the Great War 1914-1918
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Truth and Untruth Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s Voyage au bout de la nuit and the Memory of the Great War 1914-1918 Thomas Michael Patrick Quinn School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies Thesis submitted to Dublin City University in candidacy for the degree of PhD Supervisors Professor Leslie Davis, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University and Dr David Denby, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University June 2002 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of PhD is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged withm the text of my own work Signed ID No 98970232 Candidate Date 25 June 2002 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Research of this scale and duration could not be undertaken without a substantial level of financial support. I therefore wish to begin by acknowledging the financial assistance of two research bodies whose support for this thesis was an indispensable part of bringing it to a successful conclusion, in this respect I would like, first of all, to acknowledge the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences who awarded me a generous three-year Government of Ireland Scholarship. In addition, the Council also awarded me a Travel Bursary enabling me to travel to Paris for one month in November 1999.1 also wish to acknowledge and thank the Research Committee at Dublin City University (DCU) who provided me with a three-year Research Bursary. This Bursary, awarded at the very outset of my research, allowed me to embark on and maintain my research activity and was absolutely critical in enabling me to make a firm commitment to my research project. At this point, I would also like to thank the members of the Research Committee of the School of Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies (SALIS) at DCU for their commitment, support and encouragement throughout my research. In the course of my research I have been in contact with many experts not just in the field of Céline studies but also in relation to the Great War and the memory of the Great War. In the field of Céline studies, my thanks go to François Gibault, Frédéric Vitoux and Ian Noble, all of whom agreed to be interviewed by me, and all of whom showed me great hospitality, as well as warm interest in my research project. In relation to the Great War, I have corresponded with historians Niall Ferguson, John Home, Richard Holmes and Jay Winter, all of whom responded freely to my questions. Indeed, John Home of Trinity College Dublin, took the time to meet with me twice to discuss my research. The historian to whom I am most indebted, however, is Jean Bastier. author of an important study on Céline in the Great War, and who answered many questions both about Céline and about the Great War. My thanks to him and to all. In reliilion tu trauma, my reading was complemented by the commentary and insights of Lieutenant Colonel Colman Goggin, Head Psychiatrist with the Irish Army, now 4 retired, and of trauma specialist Yvonne McKeon, both of whom I met on several occasions My thanks to them both I visited many libraries in the course of my research The Manuscript Department of the Bibhotheque nationale de France (BnF) provided me with access to the Voyage au bout de la nuit manuscript acquired in May 2001 At the BnF’s Tolbiac site, I was also able to consult many audio-visual documents on both Celine and the Great War in the keeping of the BnF and of the Institut national de Vaudio-visuel (INA) In addition, the Institut mémoires de Vedition contemporaine (IMEC) allowed me access to their significant Céline collection The Service historique de I ’armee de terre (SHAT) at Vincennes, Pans, kindly allowed me to examine the Historique of Celine’s regiment during the Great War as well as the hand-written daily record of the regiment’s progress The staff of SHAT always responded courteously and generously to my correspondence and requests for information Finally, the Cinematheque Française was helpful in arranging for a private viewing of Leon Poirier’s film Verdun at their premises in the Fort de St -Cyr My thanks to the staff and management of all these establishments I also wish to thank the staff and management of DCU library on whom I greatly depended In particular, I wish to thank Mags Lehane of Inter-Library Loans at DCU who was patient and helpful to a fault It is, indeed, impossible to acknowledge all who have contributed in one way or another over a period of three years to the development of my research Many friends listened and encouraged with both interest and patience not just to accounts of my research but to the account of my experience of doing research, sometimes difficult and painful Two persons, however, deserve special acknowledgement, Dr Niamh Chapelle of SALIS, who listened, encouraged, supported and understood, and Alva Moloney, whose enthusiasm for endless conversations about Celine greatly sustained this writer on his own journey to the end of the night The importance of support and guidance to anyone embarking on a major thesis cannot be overstated In this respect, the figure of my supervisor and fellow Celinian, Professor Leslie Davis of Dublin City University looms large His warmth, kindness 5 and the unfailing reassurance of his personal presence will not need emphasis for any who know him This acknowledgement of his role in my research is accompanied by my warmest thanks and appreciation I also wish to thank Dr David Denby, Senior Lecturer m French at DCU who, following Professor Davis’s resignation due to illness, took over supervision of the thesis in its final stages and who guided it safely to harbour Many thanks Last but not least, I wish to acknowledge the unfailing presence and support on every level of my wife, Joan Moore Without whom nothing would be possible or even imaginable 6 This thesis is dedicated to Professor Leslie Davis who knows the secret of turning base metal into gold i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 14 Introduction The Great War and Voyage au bout de la nuit - Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Memory and Truth - The Contours of Trauma - Methodology - Chapter Summary CONCLUSION Page 32 Chapter I 4 MAI - From Heroism to Alienation INTRODUCTION 1 1 PRELUDE - Enlightenment and Revolution - The Memory of War - Ernest Psichan - Enthusiasm - The Hero Page 39 12 THE GREAT WAR Modem War - Unprecedented War - Total War - Union Sacree - Gold Page 44 13 DEATH, STASIS, REPETITION - The Trenches - The Death of the Cavalry - Death - Verdun Page 57 1 4 ALIENATION - Mechanisation - Landscape - Absurdity - Shell-shock - Censorship - Cowardice, Desertion and Mutiny - Endurance CONCLUSION Page 65 Chapter 2 REMEMBERING - From Myth to Anti-Myth INTRODUCTION 2 1 TRADITIONAL MEMORY - Commemoration and Myth The Dead - The Unknown Republican Soldier - Pour elle un Français doit mourir - 1793 - Silence - Veterans -11 November 1928 Page 79 2 2 THE WRITERS OF MODERN MEMORY - 1929 - Graves - Hemingway - Remarque - The Battle for Memory - The Anti-Norton Cru CONCLUSION Page 101 Chapter 3 CELINE AT W AR - From Rambouillet to Poelkapelle INTRODUCTION 3 1 CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE - Separation - Death - Family, Work and Army Page 106 3 2 BEFORE THE WAR - The 12th Cuirassiers Arrival at Rambouillet - Barrack Life - Cuirassier Celine - Desertion - La Reussite Page 772 3 3 WAR - Mobilisation - North - The Enemy - The Battle of the Marne - Flanders - The Encounter with Death - The End of the War - The Death of the 12th Cuirassiers CONCLUSION Page 127 Chapter 4 RE-ENACTMENT - From Hazebrouck to Voyage INTRODUCTION 4 t MEMORY - Shock - Val-dc-Grace - London - Africa - Silence - Semmelweiss - Marnage - La Société des Nations - The Crisis in Memory Page 143 4 2 THE TRAUMA OF THE SOLDIER - The Stress of Combat - The Aftermath - The Trepanation Myth - The Nightmare of Memory - The Death Imprint - The Search for Meaning Page 151 4 3 THE SITE OF R E ENACTMENT - Duality - The Breach in Consciousness - The Cycle of Re enactment - The Function of Rappel - The Cycle of Commemoration - The Cycle of Revolution - The Return of Experience - The Voice of the Wound CONCLUSION Page 170 Chapter 5 TRUTH AND UNTRUTH - From Silence to Witness INTRODUCTION 5 1 FROM TRAUMATIC MEMORY TO TRAUMATIC NARRATIVE - The Site of Remembering and Forgetting - Traumatic Memory - From one Narrative to Another Page 177 5 2 FROM SILENCE TO WITNESS - The Temptation of Silence - The Silence of Memory - The Breach of Silence - Silence and Witness to War - Silence against Silence - Silence and Self - Beyond Silence Page 185 5 3 FROM EYE-WITNESS TO I-WITNESS - The General Picture - Eye-Witness - Narrative Voice - War Narrative - Intertextual Witness - Henri Barbusse - Marcel Lafaye - I-Witness - The Community of Telling - From Truth to Untruth CONCLUSION Page 205 Chapter 6 REWRITING THE SELF - From Destouches to Celine INTRODUCTION 6 1 THE CIRCLE OF STASIS - Circles - The Debased Self - The Mask - Donning the Mask - The Effort to Break Free Page 213 6 2 THE PROTEAN SELF - Towards the Protean - The Self as Coward and Deserter - Robinson The Broken Self - Une espece de scene brutale a moi-meme - The Death of Robinson - Double Trouble - The Self as Voyager - Sex Tourism - Baryton Voyager - Displaced Persons - The Self as Storyteller - The Self as Doctor - The Quest for Gold - Female Celine - Celme Cellini CONCLUSION Page 239 Chapter 7 BEYOND REDEMPTION - From Accusation