Céline was truly a rather despicable individual. He was an anti-Semite and a misogynist, filled with hatred on all fronts.

Nevertheless, he was an incredibly amazing writer. His French was both beautiful and vulgar, capable of being heart-rending and repulsive at the same time. His works were full of interesting characters, and yet he himself seemed completely alone.

Voyage au bout de la nuit also exists in the form of a graphic novel by Tardi. It is a novel of truly unforgettable and devastating beauty. It should be regarded as the literature it is, without overly concerning ourselves with the tortured man who created it. We should focus on the literary value and the powerful impact it has on readers, rather than being overly influenced by the flaws of the author.

This novel stands on its own merits and has the ability to touch the hearts and minds of those who read it, regardless of the controversies surrounding its creator.

All you who are reading these very lines right now, are waiting for a review, an analysis maybe of Journey to the End of the Night, I bet.

Well, I regret to say that I'll most probably disappoint you. In fact - and I don't mean to talk down the admittedly great job some reviewers have done here - I don't think one can properly review this book.

You can talk about it or the way you felt reading it but the true essence of it should be experienced through reading it and not some ridiculous review a loser like me will foolishly attempt to write.

In other words, stop reading my review, go to the nearest bookshop and buy the damned thing!

Before you do that though, I'd like to warn you that it's not a light read. Be prepared to have to stop every five or so pages and stare at the wall with a blank look on your face.

Be prepared to feel your mind go numb while trying to process those words that seem to feed voraciously on your brain cells.

This book consumed two and a half weeks of my life and I'm proud of every second I spent lost in its pages.

If you don't feel up to it however, don't bother with this journey that starts with the atrocities of the WW1 and ends in some lousy parisenne pub. Or does it?

Come to think of it, this journey is unlikely to ever come to an end. After all, the night is endless and seems to stretch out toward the infinity and beyond our hypocritical, petty lives.

See what I'm talking about? Consider yourselves warned.

DNF

I reached page 250 and I'm quitting! I can't stand this miserable, misanthropic, idiotic rant of a pathetic, misogynistic, racist anymore. It's driving me crazy! I want to take this Barntamou down and start beating him up.

I've never been so angry with a book that I want to tear it into pieces and burn it.

That's it.

All things are vain, and there is no way of salvation from this endless sorrow except death.

I'm afraid that by giving this score to such a book, I will probably be accused of not understanding and not comprehending the book. But there's no other choice. I try to respect the principle of fairness in describing the book and not to be too harsh so that readers of this genre don't say "Shame on this old man!"

The book attempts to bring to the fore the misfortunes of mankind, everywhere and at all times, through a story that starts from World War I and ends in the jungles of Africa, then in the Americas, and finally in the suburbs around Paris. In fact, the tense and straightforward style of Celine tears down all the veils of illusion and hypocrisy, and the artificial happiness of mankind, leaving him alone with grief and misfortune. Misfortunes that only end with death. {In fact, the character of Robinson should express the revelation of these thoughts of Celine}.

In a word, "Voyage to the End of the Night" is a wild revolt against "everything", and it must be said that almost no one and nothing has remained safe from the sharp and victorious sword of Mr. Celine.

However, this very thing that was supposed to be the strength of the book has unfortunately become its greatest weakness. Bardamu, the main character of the story, is an irresponsible and burdensome person in every respect. He is not looking for "whys". He is just crying and crying and crying. He doesn't distinguish between people. The ruling class, or the class of the rich, makes no difference to him from the empty-handed and unfortunate people in the slums of Paris. From Celine's point of view, we are all wallowing in our own filth. Now maybe its form may change, but it doesn't matter. In a way, Celine looks at "events" and "people" separately from each other and never looks for connections or causes. For this reason, too, all of Celine's characters have no past. They suddenly enter the story and suddenly disappear from the book. This separation of man from the past and the future can also be seen well in Bardamu, and in my opinion, it is one of the main roots of this endless bitterness that is felt in this book.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the book has little charm and reading it is not very enjoyable. In my opinion, the problem is not the dark theme of the book. Rather, the main problem is that the plot of the story is very weak and the book is to some extent like a diary. With the difference that it is not a real diary but a fictional sample of events that Celine saw during World War I, in the colonies of Africa, and on his trip to America until the age of 38. In fact, the book is like an encyclopedia of misfortunes!

Despite all these characteristics, it should not be forgotten that the book is considered a great and influential literary work. But this is mainly because of the new writing style that Celine used. The bold pen and the writing style that distances itself from the language of the intellectuals (!) and gets closer to the language of the common people, along with literary refinements and endless games with words, was something that, after the publication of the book, sounded like a bomb among literary critics and attracted a lot of praise and attention. And later, many great writers in the East, including Beckett and Bukowski, were influenced by it. For this reason, in my opinion, reading this book in any language other than French is meaningless and probably no translation can do justice to the content.

Even Sadegh Hedayat's attempt was a great disappointment.

P.S: Mr. Jalal Al-e Ahmad said in a strange statement that "The Stranger" by Camus is without faith, but "The Schoolmaster" by me is tough and with faith, and I was inspired by Celine in writing it! There is a book called "Voyage to the End of the Night"!!

One is amazed! Thank God, I have read both "The Stranger" and "Voyage to the End of the Night". And I can't disagree with Mr. Jalal more. But if their intention was just to attract the attention of readers, I must say that it was achieved. Because I intended to read some of their books with a critical eye.

War, with its destruction and chaos, has brought untold suffering to countless people. Colonialism, on the other hand, has exploited and oppressed weaker nations, leaving a legacy of inequality and injustice. Nihilism, the belief that life has no meaning or value, has led many to feel hopeless and despairing. Attempted murder is a heinous crime that takes away the lives and dreams of its victims. And teenage girls having abortions is a complex and controversial issue that raises many questions about morality, ethics, and the rights of the unborn.

All of these things seem to suggest that everything is shit and pointless, and that we should all probably just kill ourselves. But is this really the case? Is there no hope for a better future? Is life truly without meaning or value?

The answer, I believe, is no. While it is true that the world is full of pain and suffering, there is also beauty and goodness to be found. We can choose to focus on the negative and give up, or we can choose to look for the positive and strive for a better tomorrow. We can work to end war and colonialism, to promote equality and justice, and to find meaning and purpose in our lives.

So, instead of wallowing in self-pity and despair, let us rise up and take action. Let us create a better world for ourselves and for future generations. Because, in the end, life is what we make of it, and it is up to us to make it a masterpiece.

Warning: If you've experienced melancholia or been diagnosed with depression, reading this novel may be inadvisable.

<3.7 stars>


\\"A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.\\" Ralph Waldo Emerson


From Journey to the End of the Night:

\\n  The sadness of the world has different ways of getting to people, but it seems to succeed almost every time.

****

I cannot refrain from doubting that there exist any genuine realizations of our deepest character except war and illness, those two infinities of nightmare.\\n

This 1932 novel follows the wayfarings of French antihero Ferdinand Bardamu. In and after World War I, he travels through war-ravaged Europe, the African jungles, and post-World War I New York City and Detroit. Then he returns to France, where he becomes an unsuccessful medical doctor after setting up a practice in a poverty-stricken Paris suburb. Celine's impetus to writing this book largely came from the trauma he suffered while serving in World War I. He was a continual and consistent cynic, loathing what he saw as a society full of hypocrisy and folly.


The gloomy narrative is filled with vulgar slang, sardonic jocosity, incessant agonies, and pessimism. There is heavy use of exaggerations and ellipses to reflect the flow of Bardamu's dialogue. He seems overly preoccupied, almost to the point of mania, with hurling vituperations at society, human nature, and life in general. He also vilifies all human institutions and Jews. In short, Journey to the End of the Night, and each word of it, is like dark chocolates for those who want to maintain maximum melancholia and perfect a complete pessimistic perspective.



\\"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.\\" H. L. Mencken

One of the greatest works of world literature. Worthy of The Brothers Karamazov and In Search of Lost Time. An undisputed masterpiece. It speaks to the human soul about things that are rarely said by humans. I would characterize it as realistic and cynical. The portrayal of the hero in every case is stormy and震撼ing.

The work is divided into four parts, touching on four major themes respectively. The first takes place during World War I, talking about the harshness and limitations of humans. The second transports us to West Africa, in the jungle highlighting racism. The third concerns immigration to America in the early 20th century, with the primitive working conditions in the factories and the humans-machines, and finally the return to post-war France and the human's attempt to stand up and fight against poverty.

The narrator is harsh with everything and everyone. He even becomes caustic with himself. He manages, in just 600 pages, so artistically, to touch on burning issues of humanity. He presents, at one moment ethics and immediately after immorality. He leaves a strong mark of every era and place he describes, as he has lived them. A significant fact is the language he uses, the common spoken language, in good literary form, giving a substantial and admirable result.

I had a negative impression, reading the biographical information of the author before starting, of how anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi he was. Despite all this, the most honest answer is that of Philip Roth, which I quote verbatim: "To tell the truth, in France, my 'Proust' is Céline! Here is a very great writer. Even if his anti-Semitism makes him a pitiable, unbearable creature. To read him, I have to suspend my Jewish conscience, but I do it because his anti-Semitism is not at the heart of his books. Céline is a great libertarian. I feel his voice calling me."

Some excerpts, from the many that made me reread and think.

"Yes, one after another cowardly, Lola, I reject this war with everything it contains... I don't mourn it... I don't abstain... I don't lament it... I reject it purely and simply, and all the lies it contains together, I don't want to have anything to do with them, with it. It doesn't matter if there are nine hundred and eighty-five million of their words and I'm only one, they are unjust, Lola, and I am right, because only I know what I want."

"Since everything was Theater, we had to play, there is nothing more ridiculous and more annoying, it's true, than a passive spectator who has been randomly placed on the stage. If you find yourself up there, you have to take the appropriate role, move, play, make a decision or be lost."

"When you stay in one place for a long time, things and people get rotten, they start to stink, deliberately for you."

"People are written by their miserable memories, by all their misfortunes, and you can't dry their tears. It's some kind of occupation for their souls. They take revenge for the injustice of today by fermenting tomorrow with shit inside them. Just and cowardly, at the bottom. It's their nature."

P.S. The translation, without having the experience of the original, is also震撼ing.

Our Journey...

Our Journey...




\\"To travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength.\\"




Celine's first novel commences with the words, \\"Here's how it started\\" and concludes \\"...and that would be the end of us.\\"



In between lies a journey that encompasses childhood, family life, service in the great war, recuperation in a hospital, an adventure in the heart of the darkness of colonial Africa, a liberating voyage across the Atlantic, the glamorous promise of New York, factory work in Detroit, a return to Paris, life as a doctor in semi-rural France, a job in an insane asylum, and ultimately death. It is an entire kaleidoscope of life experience,展现出人生丰富多彩又充满波折的画卷.



...To the End of the Night



What is implied by the end of the night? Does it signify that we have endured the darkness of the night and now another day has begun? Or is life merely one day that concludes with the night? Is life a metaphorical journey consisting of only one day and night?



It is possible that life is a period that consists of both light and darkness, a blend of both happiness and sadness, and that the end of the night is the death that arrives at the end of our lives:



\\"A time comes when you're all alone, when you've come to the end of everything that can happen to you. It's the end of the world...The truth is death.\\"



Ultimately, no matter how much we connect with family or society, we must confront death individually, 独自面对生命的终结.



Madelon and the Picaro



The clearest understanding of the narrator, Ferdinand, emerges from Madelon: \\"First you cuckold your friends, then you beat their women!\\"



They are polar opposites, almost rivals for the love or affection of Leon Robinson.



Whatever ostensible pride Ferdinand might possess, Madelon is \\"clean and beautiful\\", someone who emphasizes \\"fidelity and respectability.\\" She attacks his deluded self-esteem, his arrogance, his narcissism. He retaliates by slapping her face, twice, \\"hard enough to stun a mule\\".



Both of them encounter light and darkness. Both experience loss and grief, 都经历过人生的起起落落和悲欢离合.



Ferdinand is a picaro. The novel is as picaresque as anything by Cervantes, Rabelais, Sterne and Swift, except it is set squarely at the cusp of both modernism and modernity. At times, it seems like a precursor to Saul Bellow's more upbeat and upwardly mobile \\"The Adventures of Augie March\\". Yet Ferdinand is more old world plebeian than new world noble Augie. In his eyes, the promise of an American-style dream is a cinematic illusion. It turns humans into machines in the name of both production and consumption, 将人类在生产和消费的名义下变成了机器.







A Lecherous Existence



If there is one word associated with this novel, it is misanthropy. However, Ferdinand doesn't so much hate the rest of mankind as float along in life, attempting to make \\"practical headway in the course of my harassed existence\\".



The concern of this man is his own existence. The other players are bit parts.



As Robinson says to Madelon, \\"Ferdinand isn't a bad sort, but delicacy isn't his strong point...nor fidelity either!\\"



He derives the greatest love and pleasure from the American, Molly, and \\"her long, blond, magnificently strong, lithe legs, noble legs. Say what you like, the mark of true aristocracy in humankind is the legs.\\"



In other words, he is a pretty typical, lecherous, single guy, an \\"anxious, frustrated man\\", occasionally appreciative of \\"a blonde with unforgettable tits and shoulders\\", driven by the desire that resides in his testicles, and a quest for amusement and happiness, provided it doesn't come at too great a cost:



\\"Like it or not, a day should be one long almost unbearable pleasure, one long coitus...Happiness on earth would be to die with and while having pleasure.\\"



Could life, after all, be one long coitus, and then you die?



Beyond Misanthropy



I began reading the novel, anticipating to be repulsed by its misanthropy. Initially, I was astonished by its fluency, the way the narrative progressed almost organically like life itself, then I yielded to the exuberance of its story telling, its unexpected sense of humour, its black comedy, even if \\"all the rest is shit and misery.\\"



Ultimately, it seemed that, but for the violence against Madelon, it wasn't as misanthropic as its reputation would have it. Thus, for me, it was a far more enjoyable reading experience than I had anticipated. Don't be deterred by anything you've read or heard (including this review). This is a genuine classic! Pessimistic, cynical, perhaps, but still marvellously entertaining, 尽管可能悲观、愤世嫉俗，但仍然极具娱乐性.

And this is also from the journey to the end of the night... an unforgettable masterpiece.

After the childhood and adolescence of Ferdinando in the margins of the pages of a condemned man, which we walked with Ferdinando in the back alleys of Paris, now with dear Ferdinando,

we are in the middle of the battlefield, a war full of all vices, a war that does not stop until it reaches the last poor and destitute.

We went to Africa, an Africa full of flattery and oppression, under the scorching sun and acquaintance with the natives whom we call savages, while we invaded their land!

We also went to America, an America full of wonder and always lost, an America that has always slept in the embrace of excitement.

And back to France, our own France! The small Paris of me and Ferdinando where we were this time at the threshold of mid-year...

Ferdinando was an extraordinary friend and of course he still is.

Thank you, great Celine, for this masterpiece in every sense.

Reading this book has turned into a very difficult process! I started it two and a half years ago and after reading 70 pages, I felt that my mind was very engaged and it wasn't the right time to read it. I put it aside and the process of starting it again has dragged on until now.

I really like Celine's pen, and "Death on the Installment Plan" is among my favorite books. It was strange to me why I couldn't get along with this book. (Of course, I should say that the very small font had no effect :))) )

But as I advanced a little, everything changed. From a certain point on, not only was reading it not difficult, but it was extremely enjoyable.

"Journey to the End of the Night" is a unique experience. Just like its name, you embark on a journey to a world that is surrounded by darkness and filth. Its people don't like each other and everything is dirty and disgusting. However, staying in this world and touching it is fascinating, as if we are traveling to a part of ourselves. Along with Celine, we move forward towards the end of the darkness and the light of human nature.

I still can't believe that this strange, creepy book that has been sitting in the library for a long time, I like it so much.

Journey to the End of the Night

"Journey to the End of the Night" is a remarkable novel that delves into the life of medical students.

It follows the adventures of Ferdinand Bardamu, starting from his experiences in the First World War, then taking him to the deepest parts of Africa for bush stories, and later on a galley trip to America, until his return to France as a poor doctor.

The novel is mainly autobiographical in nature. Celine skillfully marches his protagonist Bardamu through various roles such as a worker, doctor, common people, and lover, navigating the turmoil of war and different societies in Africa, America, and Paris.

With his unique writing style, Celine's focus on everything that bothers him comes across as both hypocritical and disastrous. He spares no one, relentlessly criticizing the Church, the state, national pride, the middle-class petty bourgeoisie, the decadent upper class, and even humanity itself.

This novel is truly a great work that offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition.

YouTube kanalımda en sevdiğim kitaplardan biri olan Gecenin Sonuna Yolculuk kitabını yorumladım.

“Morning, keep the streets empty for me.”
“Gündüz, benim için sokakları boş tut.” Fever Ray*

Uyarı : Lütfen evde denemeyiniz.

Gecenin Sonuna Yolculuk kitabında anlatılan hikaye, karakterlerin gecenin derinliklerinde beraber gezintiye çıkmalarını içeriyor. Oğuz, Kinyas ve Kayra gibi karakterler, planlamadan doğrudan yola çıkarlar, bilinmezliğe ve gecenin sonuna doğru yol almaya hazırdırlar.

Gece, yavaş yavaş geliyor ve karakterleri kendi dünyasına çekiyor. Beyaz Geceler gibi karakterler, geceyi görebileceğine emin olmak için endişelenirken, G.S.Y. karakteri ise gecenin her zaman karanlık olduğunu vurguluyor.

Ademoğlu karakteri ise, kafelerde, kapitalist tüketim kültüründe, arabaların içinde ve korunaklı evlerde geçirilen zamanlarını anlatıyor. Ancak, G.S.Y. karakteri, Ademoğlu'nun her yerde olmak istiyosunu eleştiriyor ve onun kolonyalizm ve sömürgecilik üzerine yürümesi gerektiğini söylüyor.

Gecenin işçileri, geceyi hazırlamakta kullandıkları aletler ellerinde sokaklarda dolaşırlar. İstenen, tanınmamaları ve görevlerinin ürkütücülüğünden başka bir şey düşündürmemeleri.

Kitapta, savaş, millet, eşitlik, özgürlük, kardeşlik gibi kavramlar da ele alınmaktadır. Ferit Edgü'nün önsözünde, vatan, millet, eşitlik, özgürlük, kardeşlik gibi kavramların içleri boş olduğunu ve üzerlerine tükürülecek kavramlar olduğunu belirtiyor.

Sonuç olarak, Gecenin Sonuna Yolculuk kitabı, karakterlerin gecenin derinliklerinde beraber gezintiye çıkmalarını, savaş, millet, eşitlik, özgürlük, kardeşlik gibi kavramları ele alan bir hikayedir. Kitabın çevirmeni olan Yiğit Bener, bütün insanlığa bir çift lafı olarak, silah alacaklarına ya da uyduruk biblo koyacaklarına evlerine kitap alıp koysunlar, bir gün merak edip bir okuyanı çıkar belki! deyip sona eriyor.