Céline - Trifles for a massacre
Bagatelles pour un massacre
Louis Ferdinand Destouches - 1937
The “massacre,” in the thinking of the author, which he foresaw in 1937, is evidently that which transpired upon the outbreak of the Second World War.
Contrary to rumor, the pamphlets are not forbidden by law, regulation or tribunal. They have not been reissued by reputable publishing houses because the author, having returned to France, wanted to retain the authority on the reissue of the books which he had written, in order to gain his subsistence. This measure of opportunity is no longer a consideration, following the passing away of the author in 1961. No one has the right to impede the legitimate curiosity of subsequent generations concerning he who was the incandescent nexus of French literature of the Mid-Twentieth Century.
After his demise in 1961, his widow, Lucette Almanzor, a dancer, banned any reprinting of the boo and sued in courts those who tried. She still does. We believe the motivation of the widow to be private and do not accept to have such a masterpiece removed from the knowledge of our time. Readers, and citizen at large, have the choice to read and to know.
Nobody can take this right away from them, from us. (aaargh)
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