A Short Extract from Casse-pipe By Céline

 

                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

A Short Extract from Casse-pipe

By Céline[1]

 

Ferdinand?... fils d’Auguste… né Auguste…

mon canard ! Maréchal des logis Rancotte…

fils de Rancotte, adjudant-trompette, 12^e dra-

gons. Ça te la coupe, hein, fayot ? Enfant de

troupe…Oui parfaitement. Enfant de la troupe.

C’est clair…C’est clair…C’est net ! ça ! merde !

Auguste…assurances…employé…Voyez -vous

ça ? l’Assurance ?...Qui c’est l’Assurance ?

Connais pas l’Assurance moi ! Ah ! Hein !

Qu’est-ce que ça branle l’Assurance ? Vous

êtes prétentieux ! mon ami ! Prétentieux ! Aud-

cieux ! Oui ! Hein ! Moi Rancotte ! Vous avez

compris ? Fixe ! Repos ! Garde à vous ! Talons

joints ! Talons joint ! La tête dégagée des

épaules ! Là ! Fixe !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferdinand ?... son of Auguste !...born

Auguste…de’ fuck ! Maréchal of

the House of Rancotte…son of Rancotte,

Adjutant trumpet, 12^th dragoons. That

just about cuts it, eh, brown noser!

Child of the troops. It’s clear…It’s clear…

Absolutely clear ! I think!... Shit!... Auguste!...

Insurance?... What the fuck! Never been

insured… me! Ah! Well! What the fuck has

insurance got to do with anything? You’re

pretentious, my friend! Very pretentious. Audacious

even! Yes!... At ease!....Stand to attention! Rancotte my foot!

You understand! Heels together!... Heels together!

The head disengaged from the

shoulders!... There now! Keep it fixed…!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above extract is based on the writer’s own experience when he joined the 17^th Cuirassiers, the famous breast-plated cavalry who fought with such distinction during the Napoleonic wars. However, the year now is 1912, so just a couple of years before the massacre of 1914 when armed cavalry were made a thing of the past.

Céline himself, when speaking about this period of his life, admits that he must have been a bit “con” to have volunteered for military service, but this was after the hindsight that he had after having been quite seriously wounded; he suffered in both his arm and hearing all his life having been subjected to a bombardment, a shell landed next to him wounding him on impact.

What I find fascinating about this short text, it is around 100 pages in total, is the very musical quality of the language. The beautiful turns of phrase, a lot of them quite popular and which are full of slang. This is the army slang of the pre-war period, but some of it is still used a lot, and mainly thanks to Céline.

He is like Shakespeare, Dante and Rabelais, in this respect; a guardian of language, to quote Heaney on Hughes! I don’t know how much more I’m going to translate, perhaps I will put up some more efforts on this blog, but I do so for the pure pleasure of doing as it is reward enough in itself.   

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[1] Céline, Louis Ferdinand: Casse-pipe suivi du Carnets du cuirassier Destouches, Gallimard, Collection Folio, Paris, 1970, p.20.

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[1] Céline, Louis Ferdinand: Casse-pipe suivi du Carnets du cuirassier Destouches, Gallimard, Collection Folio, Paris, 1970, p.20.