Voyage au bout de la nuit

ORIGINAL EDITION of the author's first novel. One of 100 numbered copies on Alfa paper, second paper after 10 copies on Arches laid paper.

Bardamu lives through his era, from disappointment to disappointment: first a soldier in a war of unparalleled mediocrity and horror, then a volunteer in the African colonies, amidst huts and mosquitoes, before reaching America with its two faces (one thinks of the latrines under the shining pavement) until he ends up stranded in the Parisian suburbs, a doctor to a working class he deems mediocre.

Journey to the End of the Nightis a groundbreaking work. Céline unleashes an unrestrained oral style. It is the birth of a new style, it is even, as the author himself told Gallimard: "bread for an entire century of literature. It's the 1932 Goncourt Prize in a landslide for the fortunate publisher who can hold onto this unparalleled work, this pivotal moment of human nature."

While Céline was not mistaken about the qualities of his work, Gallimard refused to publish it. It was ultimately Denoël and Steele who published Journeyin 1932, with the success we know, with one small detail: the novel missed the Goncourt Prize by two votes, the Academy selecting Guy Mazeline's work.

Failing to win the Goncourt, Journey to the End of the Nightreceived the Renaudot Prize and was immediately a great commercial success, reprinted countless times.

A masterpiece of French literature, extremely rare on large paper.