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Journey to the End of the Night

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( 46,321 ratings, 3,391 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline is a novel following the protagonist, Bardamu, as he traverses through war, colonial Africa, America, and back to Paris. This deeply pessimistic and darkly comic narrative explores themes of human folly, despair, and the absurdity of life. Filled with vivid language and raw emotion, it paints a grim yet compelling journey through the depths of society and the human experience.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate dark humour and a deep dive into the human condition. Céline's style is raw and unapologetic, offering a brutally honest, yet compelling, portrayal of life during and after World War I through the eyes of a disillusioned protagonist. This book may appeal to you if you're interested in existential themes wrapped in a unique narrative voice.

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First published in 1932, Journey to the End of the Night was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and a turning point in French literature. This edition contains a foreword by John Banville.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

First published in 1932, Journey to the End of the Night was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and a turning point in French literature. Told in the first person by Céline’s fictional alter ego Bardamu, the novel is loosely based on the author’s own experiences during the First World War, in French colonial Africa, in the USA and, later, as a young doctor in a working-class suburb in Paris.

Céline’s disgust with human folly, malice, greed, and the chaotic state in which man has left society lies behind the bitterness that distinguishes his idiosyncratic, colloquial, and visionary writing and gives it its force.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Journey to the End of the Night is hailed as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, praised for its profound impact and compelling narrative.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781847492401

Publisher: Alma Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 September 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Alma Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by Ralph Manheim
  • Translated by Ralph Manheim

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 194.0mm

Weight: 333g

Pages: 432

About the Author

Ralph Manheim (b. New York, 1907) was an American translator of German and French literature. His translating career began with a translation of Mein Kempf in which Manheim set out to reproduce Hitler's idiosyncratic, often grammatically aberrant style. In collaboration with John Willett, Manheim translated the works of Bertolt Brecht. The Pen/Ralph Manheim Medal for translation, inaugurated in his name, is a major lifetime achievement award in the field of translation. He himself won its predecessor, the PEN translation prize, in 1964. Manheim died in Cambridge in 1992. He was 85.

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