CELINE (Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, known as Louis-Ferdinand - Lot 61

CELINE (Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, known as Louis-Ferdinand). Born in Courbevoie. 1894-1961. Doctor and writer. Autograph letter signed with his initials to "Mon cher Vieux" [Jean-Gabriel Daragnès]. S.l.n.d. (December 1949 or January 1950). 2 folio pages. Shortly before his trial hearing, scheduled for February 21, 1950, presided over by Judge Drappier, Céline attempts to mobilize his supporters: ...I believe that all true friends must now write in my favor right away to President Drappier cour de Justice directly. That means you, Paulhan, Debuffet (sic, for Jean Dubuffet), Marcel (Marcel Aymé), everyone you can think of. Do you want to alert them? Naud (his lawyer Albert Naud) agrees. It will be read at the Audience with the lettersAffaire Céline...How sick I am! I can hardly write and I have no help; you bet, getting it mimeographed in Copenhagen! Mik (his Danish lawyer Th. Mikkelsen) doesn't give a damn and does nothing. Fortunately, Löchen the Pastor is admirable. Without him, the documents would never have been certified at the Consulate, or even typed! He hired me a typist there... Mik keeps my letters for eight days without reading them... He's not interested!... During the hearing of Céline's case in mid-December 1949 before the Cour de Justice de la Seine, his Danish lawyer Thorvald Mikkels had sent a telegram announcing that "Destouches ill, impossible to attend..." A trial in absentia was therefore decided, and Céline was ordered to attend the hearing set for February 21, 1950. President Drappier was to judge the writer. All Céline's friends decided to mobilize in his favor: Arletty, Marie Bell, Jean Paulhan, Marcel Aymé, Jouhandeau, Maulnier, even Henri Miller, who through Maurice Nadeau had written a letter in favor of the author of Le Voyage, and many others, including the painter Jean Dubuffet...François Löchen was the head of the Reformed Church of Copenhagen. Pastor Löchen had met Céline in Denmark in the autumn of 1947. Previously, he had been a military chaplain in Sartrouville, then in the Paris suburb of Bezons, where Doctor Destouches himself had practiced medicine.The friendship between engraver Jean-Gabriel Daragnès (1886-1950) and Céline was not immediate. During the Occupation, Daragnès was wary of the "Gen Paul gang", but Céline looked after his mother "right up to the last minute" (March 1941), and Daragnès never forgot his devotion. It was Daragnès who put Céline in touch with Paul Marteau and Jean Dubuffet, two of the writer's supporters during his trial. He welcomed Mikkelsen, Céline's Danish lawyer, to Montmartre and went to Korsor himself in 1948, 'the Danish exile of Céline and his wife Lucette. Daragnès was behind the publication of Foudres et flèches and À l'agité du bocal, and was thinking of illustrating Scandale aux Abysses, which he wanted to print himself. He collected exculpatory testimony, and appeared as a witness at the trial before the Court of Justice. On July 25, 1950, Daragnès died following a minor operation. Céline lost a true friend, as well as an active financial supporter, through his role as a money courier to Denmark, in conjunction with Pierre Monnier and François Löchen.