Signé ; Albert Paraz - Inédits sur Céline - 1948

Albert PARAZ | UNPUBLISHED ON CÉLINE.

A rare, first-hand collection concerning Louis-Ferdinand Céline, consisting of:

- Two letters signed by Albert Paraz about Louis-Ferdinand Céline, justifying the publication of Céline's letters in 1948, at a time when he was under house arrest in Denmark and pursued by the French justice system for collaboration.

- A copy of “Valsez Saucisses” by Albert Paraz, in which his correspondence with Céline appears and in which he revisits his troubles with his publisher for Le Gala des Vaches, as previously mentioned in the letters attached here. With a signed inscription.

“Very perplexed by Céline’s remarks, some say drumbeat, others silence. To speak of him from a purely literary point of view cannot do harm. (Implying that he is a thousand times innocent, but without provocation)

We will, alas, have to wait for the extinction of these abominable exceptional tribunals, what a shame!” (present letter)

In these two letters, Paraz mentions the sales of his book Le Gala des Vaches, published by Éditions l’Elan in 1948. It is in this work that Céline’s letter on Sartre and existentialism, À l’agité du bocal, is published for the first time:

“I am still a little concerned by the fact that my Elan publisher is trying to make me believe that he has sold only 4,600 copies in total and he is not in a hurry to reprint.

Céline is convinced that a certain number were sold on the black market. I am very surprised that “Gala des vaches” has not sold higher than that. (…) We had a conversation with the publisher where he acknowledged that many of these half-banned books sold very well cash and without invoices.” (present letter)

Albert Paraz (1899-1957) began a career as a writer in the interwar period. He befriended Louis-Ferdinand Céline and maintained a substantial correspondence with him. Céline recommended him to his publisher, Robert Denoël, who published his early works. Albert Paraz ardently supported Céline after the war, when Céline remained in exile in Denmark until 1951:

“First reluctant, Céline quickly understands the leverage he can draw from this zealot who toils like a devil to obtain absolution and will defend him later as a critic, not hesitating, when it is completely taboo, to publish his letters in his Gala des vaches, at the end of 1948 – a book soon followed by Valsez, saucisses incorporating the same method, two years later. Reciprocal instrumentalization not devoid of ulterior motives on both sides? Certainly, but it nevertheless makes Paraz the first ‘editor’ of a Céline correspondence and more besides.” (Le Monde, 2009)

The letters to Albert Paraz (1947-1957) appeared in 1981 in issue 6 of Cahiers Céline, reissued in 2009 in Les Cahiers de la NRF.