…Bouge pas Andre!
Normance, Céline
and the Correspondences with Pliny the Elder
The
key signifiers that I will be examining here are firstly the French pronouns on
(we), je (I) and finally vous
(formal you) all of which are crucial features, I will be positing, in very
carefully constructing the highly systematic orality that Céline manages to achieve
in his novel Normance ( 1954) and which also goes by the subsidiary
title Féerie pour une autre fois, II and which the author composed while
he was in exile in Denmark. Then, I will be treating the importance of the
first dedication of the novel by the author to the ancient Roman naturalist and
philosopher Pliny the Elder ( AD 23/24-79) as it is another crucial sign in the
plethora of signs that the author inserts, and which will help to localise the
very specific philosophical stand point of the author grounding us in both his
sense of humour and his very specific political outlook and which have deep
significance for our current very troubled times. Finally, I will be treating
the characters of Jules and Normance, whose name forms the title of the novel
and which is also highly significant as it returns us to the microcosm of the
one, and to the pronouns je and vous ( 1st and 2nd)
and which are representative of the microcosmic world of the individual, which
is the point of view, predominantly, of both Pliny, as a natural philosopher,
observing phenomenon on the ground and which he will later treat in his encyclopedia,
as it is just this point of view that Céline himself will be advocating in his
novel Normance, I will be positing, a three hundred and seventy five
page novel which takes place over the course of a few hours in the summer of
1944 when the Allies bombarded the suburbs of Paris.
The
first thing that strikes one with Normance is the orality and it is this
stylistic factor which I should like to treat here and there are a number of
factors which contribute to the overall effect, one of which is the use of the
verb Raconter and which is the very first word of the text. ‘Raconter tout ça après…’the novel begins. ‘c’est vite dit !... c’est vite dit !...’ So, in the first
lines of the text the whole nature of the enterprise is stated, and the
difficulty of the enterprise; which is to tell of a human experience that has
happened to one and which one must then tell to another. The idea of a witness
is straight away addressed, and this is indicated by the use of the pronoun
‘On’/ ‘We’ which is all inclusive – we indicating humanity. ‘On a tout de même l’écho encore…brroumn!...la tronche vous oscille…même
sept ans passé…’
and
so we are given the whole context of the human enterprise within the first
couple of lines. We are witnessing war, which the narrator has experienced
several years previous to the task at hand - the narration. In the current
context, with wars engulfing both Ukraine and Russia and the simultaneous
escalation of conflict in the Middle East and with talk about a possible future
global conflict brought about in the South China Seas, this is very compelling
stuff.
Raconter tout ça après…c’est vite dit !...c’est vite dit !...
On a tout de même l’écho encore…brroumn !...la tronche
vous oscille…même sept ans passés…le trognon !...le temps
n’est rien, mais les souvenirs !...
Céline,
the author, the ‘chroniqueur’/chronicler ‘ …je suis chroniqueur…’ is
setting out here in the first few lines of the text the whole enterprise of the
374 pages which are to follow and which is nothing less than a copious
description of the events in question - the bombardment of Montmartre by the
Allied forces during 1943, and to which Céline himself, Doctor Destouches, was
an actual witness and so for this reason places himself in the narrative which
will tell of the events on the day in question when bombs fell on the apartment
he was inhabiting. All of this we get on
the first page, but there is more… there are references to both Cervantes and
Émile Zola, little clues as to the scope of the enterprise, which is nothing
short of being epic.
les personnes qu’on a perdues…les chagrins…
les potes disséminés…gentils…méchants…oublieux…les
ailes de moulins…et l’écho encore qui vous secoue…Je
serai projeté dans le tombe avec !...Nom de brise ! j’en
ai plein la tête !...plein le buffet…Brrroum !...je ressens…
j’accuse…
The
reference above to windmills and the celebrated phrase evoking the Dreyfus
Affair are unmistakable; the latter in the context of Céline, the notorious
antisemite of the pamphlets, all the more incendiary. History here is always
personal - ‘His-story!’ Not even the reader can escape, which is why the author
implicates him in the use of pronouns. So, within the space of a few lines we
go from ‘On’/We, to ‘je’ I to ‘Je vous’ perdre pas!...’ / I don’t lose you!
mais je vous
perds pas!...je vous rattraperai de ci, de lá …tout est lá ! le
caractère…
This
shift of pronouns is extremely important, particularly when we see that the
nature of the person’s character is in question; be it the author’s, people in
general, or the readers! Nobody escapes culpability, particularly so when we
are dealing with such events as war, when people, civilians, are being targeted
and blown, quite literally, out of their homes. And this very phenomenon is not
new, as the author makes quite clear, all on the same first page.
J’étais tombé sur l’ascenseur par la porte ouverte…
non !... plus bas encore… plus bas tombé !...à la cave…
Brroum !...en appelant Lili !...en appelant Bébert…appelant
tout !...Ils m’avaient ramassé dehors…les quatre chevaliers
et les dames, remonté chez moi…c’est pas d’hier que je
fais les braoum !...depuis 14 à vrai dire…novembre 14…
broum ! …je fus envolé par un obus,
evolé ! soulevé !...un
gros déjà ! un « 107 » ! en selle sur
« Démolition »…
Céline
is of course referencing his own experience as a young man some years earlier
in the Great War when he was injured only a few months in ( 14th
November, 1914), and which he already wrote about in Voyage au bout de la
nuit ( 1932) and more recently in Guerre ( 2022).
Céline gives four dates, ’14 !...de 18 !...
35 !...44 !... ah, je compte !...recompte…je retrouve
tout !...comme le linge le jour du carnet…’ The first two refer of course to the Great
War which, as we have already acknowledged,
Céline actively participated in before being injured, he was later
decorated for his services and this was to save him many years later when he
was brought to court for his supposed collaboration during WW2. 1935 is less
clear. Could the reference possibly be the enactment of the Nurenberg Laws in
Nazi Germany against Jews? For a virulent antisemite like Céline it is highly
possibly, which brings an altogether different aspect to the text and one
which, despite one’s admiration for the author’s style, is of course deeply
troubling. 1944 is significant of course in many ways, D Day of course, the
beginning of the end, and the bombardment of Montmartre by the Allies which is
the events that Céline describes in the novel. But at this stage, I should like
to refer to the first dedication of the novel.
A PLINE L’ANCIEN
Pline
is French for Pliny the Elder ( Gaius Plinius Secundus AD 23/24- 79), the
author of Naturalis Historia the first encyclopedia in 37 volumes
describing the natural world as based on his natural observation of natural
phenomenon. ‘je suis le simple témoin visual…’
Céline writes further on as he describes the visual phenomenon of the bombing
of Paris by the Allied planes.
C’est là qu’on voit l’homme, sa nature, ce qu’il
est capable, ses façones innées de s’amuser… les réverbérations
d’usine, les lueurs qui s’élèvent de Saint-Quen…
But
why Pliny the Elder? I think the only answer there is the temporal backdrop of
the overall piece; remember, Céline is undertaking a monumental tableaux
reminiscent of Rembrandt, in its historic perspective, and the allusion to
Pliny and ancient Rome acts like a dept charge colouring the three hours of
description which will take up the next 350 or so pages.
et ces mirages d’atmosphère que le jardin de Barbe-Bleue, sous nous,
monte au Ciel !... c’est que de l’effet, je suis pas dupe !...
des réfractions par les nuages !... phénomènes ! oui !
phénomé-
ne !...je note !..je dois vous noter tout !...le jardin de
Barbe-
Bleue monte au Ciel…Broum !...
The
reference to Barbe-Bleue, .... ( To be continued...!
