Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. 3 L.A.S. "Destouches"... Lot 355

Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. 3 L.A.S. "Destouches" and (the 3rd) "LFC", [1933-1934], to John H.P. Marks; 2 and 2 pages and 1 1/2 pages in-4. To his English translator, concerning the translation of Voyage au bout de la nuit and L'Église. [February1933] 98 Rue Lepic. He is delighted to express his "pleasure at reading your translation of Le Voyage". He points out "a small translation error" that he noted in the text: "In the war, when the colonel walks through the bullets, "He had no sense of death", etc... There will no doubt still be many other more or less doubtful points in the course of your work, but it goes without saying that I am always at your complete disposal to facilitate your task. In fact, I'll be going to London in early to mid-April and will be delighted to meet you. Your style is very much alive, and that's crucial in this case. It's still a question of transforming all this, I have a feeling, into something "bitterly English", where, however, what may be my own remains. Here you are, facing a tough and magical test"... [July 1933]. "Dear Friend. You are quite right about the Church. We must wait and see. It's a rather unsuccessful little work (quite) and I don't expect anything from it. If by chance something comes of it, it will be an admirable surprise. Let's just wait for the chumps to get excited. What's bad naturally attracts them. So you've got rid of Chatto. I can't wait to see you. As for the cuts, let me know - of course they're only for reasons of modesty, not to cut things short. Le tour du chemineau means a bad joke played by country children on the passing chemineau... a purse on the road full of guts... he bends down etc. But delete, I think too complicated to translate"... Lettres (Pléiade), 33-84 (incomplete text). [Early June 1934]. "Mon vieux, Ces Chatto are really taking too long to make up their minds. It's hard to see how they could have been any longer! As for Le Voyage, its success in America seems rather doubtful to me. I have little faith in it. The critics seem to me to have taken the attitude of "smart, superior, not going too be bluffed, what could they see in it I wonder!... and so on..." which appeals a lot to the American public, which is itself very predisposed to this kind of attitude towards things from Europe and France in particular. In England, you can probably observe the same phenomenon, the superiority complex. As for the Church, don't get ahead of yourself. It's a little dud. I prevented Pittoeff from putting it together the way he wanted. It's not worth translating or publishing. I'll arrive in N.Y. on the 20th and return here at the end of July and then to Brittany, probably until September 1st"...