Ln July 20, 1951, a man arrived in Menton with a Gallimard contract in his suitcase. A concrete contract: reissue of all the novels, 18% royalties, 5 million in cash… Two days before, he was in the managerial office of Gaston Gallimard whom he heard declare: “I would be so happy to be able to edit Céline. I had at home the biggest names in literature, Gide, Claudel, Faulkner, Valéry… All of them! And the only one I missed was Céline! Yes, I missed Celine. It is a fault, an error. So you understand that I will do what it takes to get it! » Pierre Monnier took notes which he reproduced in Ferdinand Furious, collection of his memories around Céline. In 1932, Benjamin Crémieux, reader for Gallimard, had indeed dragged for don…
Cliché Jean Hugou/Gallimard – DR (x2) – IZIS/Paris Match/Scoop – AGIP/Bridgeman Images (x2) – KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA RAPHO