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Voyage au bout de la nuit Louis-Ferdinand Céline publisher: Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932 translated as: Journey to the End of the Night publisher: Querido, Amsterdam, 1988 translation: Ralph Manheim –› Excerpt refered to by: Atomised Michel Houellebecq Chapel Road Louis Paul Boon The Dark Room of Damokles Willem Frederik Hermans [De avonden] Gerard Reve The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek Allah is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma full text search: the ledge - flash version* *	summary: The picaresque adventures of Bardamu move from the battlefields of World War I (complete with buffoonish officers and cowardly soldiers), to French West Africa, the United States, and	back to France in a style of prose that's lyrical, hallucinatory, and hilariously scathing toward nearly everybody and everything. Yet, beneath it all one can detect a gentle core of idealism.
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ON LOUIS-FERDINAND CéLINE'S BOOKSHELF Gargantua and Pantagruel François Rabelais, 1532-1553 The classic satirical and ribald tale about the travels of Gargantua and Pantagruel, set in the French countryside. Story of My Life George Sand, 1854 In her 'mid-life' autobiography, George Sand (1804-1876) challenges conventional distinctions between male and female, fact and fiction, and public and private life. Hunger Knut Hamsun, 1890 Set in Oslo, this is a compelling trip into the mind of a young writer, driven by starvation to extremes of euphoria and despair. (See also Mysteries, 1892) The Drinking Den Émile Zola, 1877 A washerwoman in Paris in 1877 has a hard time keeping her head above water. (See also Nana, 1880) Nana Émile Zola, 1880 The French novelist's classic study of a prostitute's dissolute existence and spiritual disintegration reflects his concern with the influence of heredity and environment. (See also The Drinking Den[/i) Under Fire Henri Barbusse, 1916 A graphic account of World War I from the perspective of the French trenches. It evokes the mundane degradations of trench life as well as the drama and trauma of military action. For a group of ordinary men, thrown together and longing for home, war is simply a matter of survival. Mysteries Knut Hamsun, 1892 A stranger with a 'Young Werther complex' brings excitement to a quiet Norwegian town. (See also Hunger, 1890) Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Other Writings Sigmund Freud, 1920 A collection of some of Freud's most famous essays, including: "On the Introduction of Narcissim", "Remembering, Repeating and Working Through", "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", "The Ego and the ID and Inhibition, Symptom and Fear". [Exégèse des lieux communs] Léon Bloy, 1902 Rabid Catholic Léon Bloy's 'Exegesis of the Commonplaces' (as far as we know, not yet translated into English).	BOOKS BY LOUIS-FERDINAND CéLINE: Journey to the End of the Night 1932 –› Excerpt The picaresque adventures of Bardamu move from the battlefields of World War I (complete with buffoonish officers and cowardly soldiers), to French West Africa, the United States, and back to France in a style of prose that's lyrical, hallucinatory, and hilariously scathing toward nearly everybody and everything. Yet, beneath it all one can detect a gentle core of idealism.	WHAT TO READ AFTER THE JOURNEY? (NEO)COLONIALISM AT ITS DARKEST Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 1958 Portrait of life in a Nigerian village before and after the coming of colonialism. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad, 1898 Seaman Marlowe journeys deep into the heart of colonial Africa, where he encounters Kurtz, an idealist crazed and depraved by his power over the natives. The meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men. Platform Michel Houellebecq, 2001 Bureaucrat, together with the woman he loves, sets up agency for sexual tourism, but his hopes for a better life are blown to bits in a (Muslim) terrorist attack. DELIRIUM SCRIBENS Chapel Road Louis Paul Boon, 1953 This is 'a pool, a sea, a chaos: it is the book of all that can be heard and seen in Chapel Road, from the year 1800-and-something until today.' Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski, 1972 A collection of stories from Bukowski which mirror the legendary, violent and depraved life that he describes. A Lamb to Slaughter Dirk Ayelt Kooiman, 1982 The life of a painter, Eastern Front veteran, and adventurer. [Andegraund, ili Geroj nashego vremeni] Vladimir Makanin, 1998 Petrovich, a hopelessly unpublished writer, goes underground in an effort to 'protect his art' from corruption. ₤ 9.99 Frédéric Beigbeder, 2000 Octave seems to have everything going for him: a good mind, a great job in advertising, a lavish apartment, girls, and a cocaine habit he can afford. But it soon becomes clear that he also has a serious problem with his life. SHELL-SHOCKED: WORLD WAR I The Enormous Room e.e. cummings, 1922 Drawing on his experiences in France as a volunteer ambulance driver, Cummings recounts the series of mistakes that led to his arrest and imprisonment for treason. All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque, 1929 This World War I novel is a German author's attempt to tell - through the persona of a young, 'unknown soldier' - of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were betrayed and destroyed by the war. Fields of Glory Jean Rouaud, 1990 As their grandchildren point out the crotchety foibles of their elders, three senior citizens explain where the habits came from, in a story of survival and the desire to be loved. 'The Regeneration Trilogy' Pat Barker, 1991-1995 A trilogy of novels set during World War I which mingle real and fictional characters.
	Death on the Installment Plan 1936 Ferdinand Bardamu, Céline's alter ego, is still a doctor in Paris, treating the poor who seldom pay him but who take every advantage of his availability. (Published in the UK as Death on Credit)
	Castle to Castle 1957 (part 1 of the 'German Trilogy') Autobiographical novel: trapped in a labyrinthine German castle with other French fascists, near the close of World War II, an aging doctor recalls and hallucinates the trials and terrors of his tormented life.
	North 1960 (part II of the German Trilogy) Autobiographical novel charts a man's desperate attempt to get his family out of Nazi-occupied territory as the Reich begins to crumble at the end of World War II.
	Rigadoon 1969 (posthumous) (written in 1960) (part III of the German Trilogy) Autobiographical novel: completed just before his death in 1961, Rigadoon, the most compassionate of Céline's novels, explores the ravages of war and its aftermath.
	Guignol's Band / London Bridge 1943 / 1964 (posthumous) Diptych about a disabled veteran in the London underworld.
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