64 - CÉLINE (Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, known as Louis-Ferdinand). Autograph letter signed “LF” to Junie Astor. [Probably Le Havre], [June 12, 1934]. 2 folio pages, two corrections; creases beginning to fray.

CÉLINE (Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, known as Louis-Ferdinand). Autograph letter signed “LF” to Junie Astor. [Probably Le Havre], [June 12, 1934]. 2 folio pages, two corrections; creases beginning to fray. THE ONLY KNOWN LETTER OF SUCH VIRULENCE AGAINST HIS MISTRESS ELIZABETH CRAIG, TO WHOM *LE VOYAGE* WAS DEDICATED. CÉLINE’S GREAT LOVE, THE AMERICAN ELIZABETH CRAIG, came from a family of long-standing American prominence but initially pursued a career as a dancer. It was during a tour that she met Céline in 1926 in Geneva, where he was working for the League of Nations. She accompanied him to Paris, where she lived with him during the period when *Voyage* was being written. Their relationship was, however, tumultuous, and she returned to California in 1933 with another lover, Benjamin, known as Ben Tankle (whom she would marry in 1939), leaving Céline heartbroken. In 1934, Céline traveled to the United States to try to convince her to return to him, but also to support the launch of the translation of *Voyage*, and furthermore to try to bring about a film adaptation of *Voyage*, which he had tasked his friend Jacques Deval (then Junie Astor’s lover) with pitching to Hollywood. CELINE ALSO REFERS HERE TO *Journey to the End of the Night*, “MY LITTLE TREASURE… IT’S A WORK OF ART LIKE FEW OTHERS…” “For Juny! Yours, Totor, for life, as a matter of course. I JUST HEARD FROM MY GIRLFRIEND, WHO IS A REAL BITCH, by the way. Tell her that straight up. ALL OF THIS, TO MAKE ME A CUCKOLD NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, TO WRITE TO ME WHILE COUNTING THE MINUTES. That’s how we grow old. You’ll see. I’ll go see her in person [in California] and give her some fine examples, if I only have the money for freedom and the gold of adventure. But your lover isn’t capable of getting a penny for my bagpipe at auction—and yet it’s a work of art like few others. You told me so yourself, and you know what you’re talking about. Not to mention that we could arrange a little Jewish wedding at the end, which would make the whole affair newsworthy. I suppose you agree with me, my dear Astor. Can screenplays be sold in Hollywood like watches? If so, don’t hesitate. Go take it there right away. I won’t say a word. There’s still the matter of reading rooms and such. But all this is taking me too far off track, and I’d rather reassure you of my affection…” This is probably the draft of the letter Céline wrote on the day he embarked for the United States: the Pléiade edition (Lettres, 2009, No. 34-24) lists another copy of this same message, dated “the 12th” and signed “Louis,” on letterhead from the S.S. Champlain, the ocean liner on which Céline made the crossing from Le Havre. THEATRE AND FILM ACTRESS JUNIE ASTOR, whose real name was Rolande Risterucci, starred in films directed by Jean Renoir (Les Bas-fonds) and Marcel L’Herbier (Adrienne Lecouvreur). She had met Céline in 1933 in connection with Abel Gance’s planned adaptation of *Journey to the End of the Night*, a project that never came to fruition. In addition, she was for a time the mistress of one of the writer’s friends, the filmmaker and man of letters Jacques Deval, and acted alongside several other acquaintances of the author of *Journey to the End of the Night*, such as Marie Bell, Arletty, and Robert Le Vigan.