The Intertextual Play – Correspondences in Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s The Journey to the End of the Night

Abstract

In The Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline opens an intertextual play being inspired by different literary traditions. The novel follows the picaresque model, similar to Rabelais’ Gargantua, with its wandering hero, Bardamu, who undergoes events without his own will. It establishes a kind of a dialogue with Voltaire’s Candide, replacing, however, its hopeful quest by a bitter deception. Céline also uses grotesque and satire to criticise our civilisation, differentiating himself from realist and pacifist novels of his time. Intertextuality is also manifested through philosophical and psychoanalytic references: Céline is inspired by Nietzsche, especially the concept of eternal return, and integrates Freudian theories, in particular the Kriegsneurosen (war neurosis), to describe the anguish of Bardamu, torn between his peaceful self and his warrior self. These correspondences enrich the novel, highlighting the fragility of human existence and the inevitability of suffering. experiences.