66 - CÉLINE (Louis-Ferdinand). Autograph letter signed “Ferd.” to Victor Carré, Saint-Malo, “August 21” [1943]. 1 p., 3/4 folio, envelope preserved.

CÉLINE (Louis-Ferdinand). Autograph letter signed “Ferd.” to Victor Carré, Saint-Malo, “August 21” [1943]. 1 p., 3/4 folio, envelope preserved. CÉLINE CONTINUES WORK ON THE MANUSCRIPT OF *GUIGNOL’S BAND*, “MY BEAR.” “Here’s another one for you! But this time, I promise—it’s the last one. We’ll be back around September 15! But how am I supposed to get by until then without your letters—and thus without your brotherly help! Aside from that, it’s rainy and windy; fall is approaching. FROM ONE MIGRAINE TO THE NEXT, I’VE MANAGED TO REACH PAGE 300 OF *MY BEAR*, WHICH HAS 760 PAGES! YOU SEE, I’M NOT DONE YET! WHAT A HEADACHE! The world is falling apart and I’m scribbling away… At least you’re taking action—you’re shuffling papers! You’re decimating City Hall! I just wrote the foreword to a book about Bezons! Competition! [This refers to *Bezons Through the Ages*, which Albert Serouille, one of Céline’s patients, would publish in 1944.] A thousand thanks, thanks again, and apologies! Our warmest regards to Mrs. Carré; a kiss for you, as usual. Ferd. Post office box. St-Malo. Because of the concierge. » ON VACATION IN BRITTANY. Fascinated by the sea, Céline indeed spent the summers of 1942 and 1943 in Brittany, thanks to special passes that granted him access to this sensitive area of the German defense system. He lived in particular in Saint-Malo, whose beauty he would later describe in *Féerie pour une autre fois*. A MONTMARTRE FRIEND OF CELINE’S AND THE MODEL FOR THE CHARACTER “MICRONESIME” IN *FÉERIE*, VICTOR CARRE was one of the writer’s neighbors on Rue Lepic. An employee at a notary’s office, he was also an amateur historian and served as archivist for the Société du Vieux Montmartre. During the war, he was in charge of food distribution at the town hall of the 18th arrondissement, which enabled him to provide Céline with ration cards, and he served as a witness at Céline’s wedding to Lucette Almanzor on February 15, 1943. While in exile in Denmark, the writer did not forget him: he had copies of *Casse-pipe* and *Scandale aux abysses* sent to him, and mentioned him in *Féerie* in the physical guise of the character Micronésime, even playfully referring to him in an intermediate draft of the novel as a historian of Montmartre counting the windmills. Louis-Ferdinand Céline, *Lettres*, Paris, Gallimard (Nrf, *La Pléiade* collection), 2009, no. 43-33.