Féerie pro jindy II.

The second volume of Céline's Faerie for Another Time is seemingly without plot, as Céline's critics have suggested. It describes the Allied bombing of Paris on the night of 21-22 April 1944. Céline observes the bombardment from her house on Girardon Street in Montmartre (referred to in the book as Avenue Gaveneau). In recounting the events, he emphasizes that he is a chronicler, even less so, here he says he is a recorder: he registers the events as he saw them in the chronological sequence. He observes the eruption of Paris, much as Pliny the Elder once observed the eruptions of Vesuvius and the demise of Pompeii. Not for nothing, however, does Céline mention, however fleetingly, the method of phantasmagoria: it reduces and enlarges the projected image of the magical lantern and enhances its effect. Céline sees the surrounding collapse as the sky and the earth turned upside down: it is not only the idea of destruction, but also the concrete perspective of pilots flying over the city. Scenes that seem to repeat themselves are always shifted a little, and in this way Céline creates a phantasmagorical plot.

Czech edition