A whirlwind of unrepentant nihilism charged with raw, colloquial language that shocked the readers of its day, Journey to the End of the Night is a bitter symphony of violence, human cruelty, greed and chaos. Based on the author’s life, Journey follows the antihero Bardamu, Céline’s alter ego, in a relentless adventure that pulls us further and further into an endless night. It takes us through the ruins of World War I Europe, where Bardamu is treated as cannon fodder, to a remote jungle outpost in Africa, where he encounters the iniquities of colonialism; from there he travels to post-war USA, picking fleas at Ellis Island and working at the Ford factory in Detroit, eventually returning to France where he works as a doctor in a bleak suburb of Paris and then at an insane asylum. Céline’s ferocious and freewheeling style, with its bleak humour and discourse on human nature, influenced some of the greatest writers of the 20th century, including Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Philip Roth. Narrator Justin Avoth captures Céline’s unique voice and the depths of his dark journey in this captivating recording.
Please be advised that this audiobook contains language that some may find offensive.
