Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. - Lot 30

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Lot n° 30
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Estimation :
800 - 1000 EUR
Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. - Lot 30
Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. L.A.S. and a P.S. on the reverse of a picture (to Roger Vailland), (ca 1943-1944). 2 large ff. in-4 long on laid paper, written on (3) pp, in blue ink (traces of folds, paper very slightly creased, palie ink tending to gray) and one in-4 sheet photographed in black (reproduces the front page of the Illustré national of November 1914) showing the charge to fire of Marshal des Logis Chef Destouches of the 12th Cuirassiers (Céline during the war) which earned him the military medal, large handwritten note on verso (palie blue ink): "A la Tribune des Nations / (si on a bien cure/envie) / d'assassiner et (...)les / résistants français pas ou par / (incultes) et cons ! / LFCéline". Large, hard-to-read handwriting, fine autograph signatures. Very interesting letter from Louis-F. Céline to Roger Vailland in the context of the Second World War. A small handwritten note in pencil identifies the recipient as Roger Vailland - with a spelling error - (1907-1965), French Resistance fighter, writer and later great reporter and screenwriter. The content of the letter sent by Céline confirms the addressee, making it possible to place its writing most probably between the summer and end of 1943. The writer evokes the battles of 14-18 and 39, inveighing in his own personal style against Vailland the Resistance fighter from the Champfleury-Mabille network, seeking to show him that he too had served France, and that his courage was as good as theirs. No doubt that's why he enclosed this print of him in 1914, enriched with a very personal "aphorism". The reason for this letter is well explained in Yves Buin's Céline (Folio, 2022): "One evening in July 1943, ten resistance fighters from the Champfleury-Mabille network were imprudently gathered in Robert Champfleury's apartment on the fourth floor of 4, rue Girardon, below Céline's apartment. Céline had just received the cartoonist Ralph Soupault, secretary of the Paris Federation of the P.P.F., and Alain Laubreaux, theater critic for Je suis partout. The descent of the staircase was noisy, and the group in the fourth floor could not escape the attention of those watching from the windows as the trio continued their discussion on the sidewalk. An idea is born, formulated by one of the resistance fighters, Roger Vailland: "What if we killed Céline? A grenade thrown from the fourth floor would do the trick, but the consequence would be to condemn Champfleury's apartment, the hub of various Resistance networks - didn't it host a meeting of the prestigious C.N.R.? - and put him and his companion in danger. Since Céline had been well spotted, when the collaborators paid another visit, it would be easy to machine-gun them from the small square on Avenue Junot and flee into the night. Two men would suffice. A classic commando action. Neither seen nor known. Exit, Céline, the infamous, and his hated acolytes. This scenario existed. As already mentioned, Céline was blacklisted and received frequent anonymous threats. As soon as Bagatelles was published, he foresaw a settling of scores in which he would be the victim...".
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