Editing Louis-Ferdinand Céline (section)

==Antisemitism, fascism and collaboration==
{{Fascism sidebar|intellectuals}}
While Céline's first two novels contained no overt antisemitism, his polemical books ''Bagatelles pour un massacre'' (Trifles for a Massacre) (1937) and ''L'École des cadavres'' (The School of Corpses) (1938) were virulently antisemitic. Céline's antisemitism was generally welcomed by the French far Right, but some such as [[Robert Brasillach|Brasillach]] were concerned that its crudity might be counterproductive.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|p=|pp=315-321}}, 329-330</ref> Nevertheless, biographer [[Frédéric Vitoux (writer)|Frédéric Vitoux]] concludes that: "through the ferocity of his voice and the respect in which it was held, Céline had made himself the most popular and most resounding spokesman of prewar antisemitism."<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=363-364}}</ref>

Céline's public antisemitism continued after the defeat of France in June 1940. In 1941 he published ''Les beaux draps'' (A Fine Mess) in which he lamented that: "France is Jewish and Masonic, once and for all." He also contributed over thirty letters, interviews and responses to questionnaires to the collaborationist press, including many antisemitic statements.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=348-349, 353}}</ref> The German officer and writer [[Ernst Jünger]] stated in his Paris war diaries that Céline told him on 7 December 1941 "of his consternation, his astonishment" that the Germans did not "exterminate" the French Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jünger |first=Ernst |title=A German Officer in Occupied Paris: The War Journals, 1941-1945 |date=2019 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231548380}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=k2NbDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT7 Chapter I, First Parisian Journal]. The first French edition of Jünger's diaries, published in September 1951, named Céline as making this comment. Céline sued the publishers for libel. Jünger resolved the issue by stating that it was a printing error. Subsequent French editions used "Merline" for Céline. Jünger explained later that the decision to replace "Merline" with "Céline" was made by editor [[Banine]], who hated Céline. {{Cite book |last1=Gnoli |first1=Antonio |title=I prossimi titani. Conversazioni con Ernst Jünger |last2=Volpi |first2=Franco |date=1997 |publisher=Adelphi |isbn=88-459-1325-2 |location=Milano |pages=93–94 |language=it |trans-title=The Coming Titans. Conversations with Ernst Jünger}} [https://juengertranslationproject.substack.com/p/the-coming-titans-ernst-junger The Coming Titans. Ernst Jünger]. In 1994, Jünger confirmed for the first time that "Merline" was in reality Céline. {{Cite web |date=5 June 1994 |title=Ein lumpiges Leben |trans-title=A miserable life |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/ein-lumpiges-leben-a-e826b90e-0002-0001-0000-000009283237 |website=[[Der Spiegel]] - spiegel.de |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=378-379}}</ref> Some Nazis thought Céline's antisemitic pronouncements were so extreme as to be counter-productive. {{ill|Bernhard Payr|de|vertical-align=sup}}, the German superintendent of propaganda in France, considered that Céline "started from correct racial notions" but his "savage, filthy slang" and "brutal obscenities" spoiled his "good intentions" with "hysterical wailing".<ref>Edward Andrew, ''George Grant's Celine, Thoughts on the Relation of Literature and Art'', Arthur Davis (ed), ''George Grant and the Subversion of Modernity'', University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 83.</ref><ref>Gérard Loiseaux, La Littérature de la défaite et de la collaboration, Fayard, 1995.</ref>

Céline's attitude towards fascism was ambiguous. In 1937 and 1938 he advocated a Franco-German military alliance to save France from war and Jewish hegemony. However, Vitoux argues that Céline's main motive was a desire for peace at any cost rather than enthusiasm for Hitler. Following the election victory of the [[Popular Front (France)|French Popular Front]] in May 1936, Céline saw the socialist leader [[Léon Blum]] and the communists led by [[Maurice Thorez]] as greater threats to France than Hitler: "...I'd prefer a dozen Hitlers to one all-powerful Blum."<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=319, 327}}</ref>

While Céline claimed he was not a fascist and never joined any fascist organisation, in December 1941 he publicly supported the formation of a single party to unite the French far right. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, he expressed his support for [[Jacques Doriot]]'s [[Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism]] (LVF).<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=357-358}}</ref> However, according to Merlin Thomas, Céline didn't "subscribe to any recognisable fascist ideology other than the attack on Jewry."<ref>{{Harvp|Thomas|1980|p=181}}</ref>

Following the war, Céline was found guilty of activities potentially harmful to national defence due to his membership of the collaborationist Cercle Européen (which Céline denied) and his letters to collaborationist journals.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=504-508}}</ref> According to Vitoux: "Céline became a member of no committee and no administration (...). He never provided any assistance, either by report, advice, or information, to the German ambassador, let alone the [[Gestapo]] or the [[Central Office for Jewish Emigration|Central Jewish Office]]." Nevertheless: "Céline's writings had permanently marked French ideology, furthered and supported its antisemitism and consequently its complacency toward the Germans. That cannot be denied."<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=375. 434}}</ref>