Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. L.A.S. "LF Céline", Copenhagen... Lot 378

Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. L.A.S. "LF Céline", [Copenhagen] July 29 [1947], to his friend Charles Deshayes in Lyon; 3pages in-fol., envelope. On his trial and collaborating writers. He approves of the idea of appealing to Édouard Herriot, but recommends doing nothing without Maître Naud: "he holds the threads of my defense here [...] knows best the delicacies of my perilous case... empty besides.... Just think if I know Cendrars! Since 1916! and the others! I'm fixed on all this - archly blasé. I hunted for pennies with Abel Gance in the thickets of that era... Canudo!... le Sarrets.... Vuillermoz... I knew all these "geniuses" at their dawn... As an old Parisian and an old doctor, I have little to learn from all this pheasantry... Denoël was worth 100%! That was no reason to murder him! and so many others! But you can imagine that the new "Légende dorée" needs cursed people, demons, monsters... I'm one of them, that's all. We've been on witch trials, no more serious, for 15 centuries... I'm on trial for witchcraft - that's all. But we've never seen executioners give up burning witches... or wizards! Justice has nothing to do with it. It's all about entertaining the crowd, sadistic, disgusting, that's all. [...] I replied to Combat where they called me a facist criminal. But they'll keep quiet. As for Paulhan, "he takes Montherlant's side - the handsome jean foutre! and Rebatet, so perfectly sold to the collaboration, and Brasillach, likewise. He'd like to do the cause a disservice and he couldn't do it any better. The imbecile offers targets! How stupid the intellectual is!" Letters to Charles Deshayes, p.35.