Todays podcast is on one of my favorite books ever by Celine: Journey to the End of the Night. Celine was very influential with many writers such as Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut. To read Celine is to gain valuable insight into the evolutionary development of the modern novel.
The Literary Critic Erika Ostrovsky notes in her book about Celine:
"There can be no doubt that Celine belongs in the ranks of the great destroyers. Uprooting secure concepts of existence and literature at the same time, he commits what for many is an unpardonable sin-that of leaving us no refuge of any kind, no exit from the trap he has shown our world to be."
"His work can thus be considered as a juncture of existentialist thought and contemporary style, that is, the eruption of the spoken word into literature. The importance of this particular combination is great. For it establishes the problem of existence not in abstract philosophical terms or couched in traditional literary language both of which might serve to remove it from the sphere of direct experience."
Note: In Slaughterhouse 5, Vonnegut's epic anti-war masterpiece, he mentions having the Ostrovsky book: Celine and his Vision. Like Joseph Heller, Vonnegut was fascinated by Celine's post-war perspective on the absurdities of man.
Ostrovsky, Erika. Céline and His Vision. New York: New York UP, 1967. Print.
Check out this episode!
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