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17 000 €

Réf : 81751

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Louis-Ferdinand CELINE

Manuscrit autographe inédit d'une version primitive non retenue pour D'un château l'autre

s.l. [Meudon] 1954 (entre l'été 1954 et janvier 1955), 26,5x33,5cm, 24 feuillets montés sur onglets et reliés.

Early draft of D'un château l'autre [Castle to Castle], unpublished autograph manuscript, n.p. [Meudon] 1954 (summer 1954-januray 1955), 26,5x33,5cm, 24 leaves mounted on boards, bound.
Exceptional set of 24 manuscript leaves by Louis-Ferdinand Céline from D'un château l'autre [Castle to Castle], mounted leaves under protective paper. Every page is numbered in Céline's hand in the upper left corner (from 632 to 634, 636 to 651 and 653 to 657), and written in blue ballpoint pen. They feature the usual characteristics of Céline's manuscripts: stains, traces of paper clips...  important variations to the published text, crossed-out lines and words, modifications, and repetitions.
Bound in full black shagreen, gilt title and author on spine, gilt mention “manuscrit autographe” on the first cover's bottom right corner.
A splendid working manuscript, typical of Celinian writing.
"Céline began writing D'un château l'autre in the summer of 1954 and finished it in the spring of 1957. [...] At Gallimard, we were kept informed of the manuscript's progress: "I am at the 1300th page, 50th draft...I can think without foolish optimism that I will soon reach the end (about a month)." A few weeks later, the book was nearly complete: "My “bear” is here, it's fine lacework." Completed in March, the book went on sale on June 20, 1957." (F. Gibault, Céline. 1944-1961 - Cavalier de l'apocalypse). This manuscript is one of these numerous "drafts" and was not chosen in the final version of the text. It is most likely one of the earliest versions written before 1955.
It contains a long unpublished passage about the "shivering" Nazi-sympathizing Frenchmen ("collabos") exiled in Sigmaringen. Although he was part of them, Céline paints a very harsh portrait of the thousand French collaborators who took refuge in the former Hohenzollern castle. He reworked the passage extensively, erased it, and wrote it again. This violent excerpt will ultimately be left out of the published novel altogether. Céline describes the lavish apartments of Baron Commandant von Raumnitz. In the Gallimard published version, the description Raumnitz's "secret rooms" will be cut short and very much toned down. Some of the pages stray from the storyline and evoke present-day events: in the grip of paranoia, Céline gives derogatory nicknames to the most prominent figures of French intelligentsia, namely Jean-Paul Sartre (“Tartre”), and Louis Aragon renamed "Larengon". Some "characters" appear in our version under their real names, especially Jean Paulhan who will be nicknamed Norbert Loukoum in the published version after a quarrel between the two writers. This new name will appear in early 1955.
Remarkable unpublished manuscript draft of D'un château l'autre.
 

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