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2024

“Journey” in the Health landscapes of Céline

Alain Vaguet
Cet article est une traduction de :
« Voyage » dans les « paysages thérapeutiques » céliniens [fr]

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1“Why do great writers tell the world better than qualified anthropologists?” (Bonsa & Pouillon, 2012). This question pushes geographers “who take the imaginary into account” (Claval, 2022) to try to build a bridge between the two languages, that of the sciences and that of the arts, or at least to call for “a critical movement of to each other” (Trucchio, 2021).

2Within the “Geographies of health” (Gatrell, 2002, Brown, 2017), a few rare publications testify to this vein (Gesler, 1992, 2000, Bewell, 1996, Baer & Gesler, 2004, Tonnelier et Curtis, 2005, Williams, 2007). In their lineage, we would like to add a contribution here, based on Céline's book: Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932). This novel written by a doctor/writer calls for special attention, although the author Louis Ferdinand Destouches, alias Céline, was seriously compromised at the time of the Second World War. One needs to consider that this author was condemned for his antisemitic attitudes, and noted for his uncompromising and provocative presentation of events and characters in his novels, while also being admired for his very innovative and 'ground breaking' style of writing. '

3We propose a summary table (figure 1), which puts the “Journey to the End of the Night” in perspective with the few other novels previously analyzed; a reduced corpus but which extends from the middle of the 19th century to the first third of the 20th century.

4Contagious diseases quite often constitute the springs of the novel and apart from Balzac, all the authors adopt a more or less critical distance vis-à-vis health professionals attitudes. However, Voyage constitutes a very violent charge against them, even questioning their respect for the Hippocratic oath. Similarly, if in general, novelists consider nature and the rural world as positive for health, this is not the opinion of Céline.

5In the first part of the book, in tropical Africa, latitudinal determinism seems to be the main approach of the author to evoke the evils of the colonial agents. Indeed, for the chapters on Europe or the United States, we can consider that Céline's posture constitutes a form of structuralist approach, insofar as it is no longer the climate or individual behavior that determine the evils from which the little people suffer, but rather a general unequal political context. In short, an almost Marxist approach to health issues as, according to the author, agents hardly bear the responsibility for their misery and their ills, unlike economic structures that generate unjust and deadly social contexts.

6Céline, in his criticism of the medical professions, seems to expect from his colleagues a greater respect for others and even the observance of a form of asceticism, of a charitable spirit, inspired by Christianity “but without faith in god” (Labreure, 1995) and without illusion.

7Celinian symbolic landscapes focus on the recurring figure of the poor, their habitus, their neighborhood, their habitat, language and habits, refusal of fees, “humanitarianism”, lack of interest in appearance... These postures resemble an ideal of poverty potentially stemming from the religious register. They seem to testify to ethical concerns, both personal and professional. All elements that refer us to the “religious management of health” (Lautman & Maître, 1995), which was the rule for a long time, when the hospital staff was made up of nuns. But they can also refer more broadly to the ideas propelled by Social Catholicism which developed at the end of the 19th century, with the irruption of the question of the condition of workers, which we find even under the pen of the pope (Encyclical Rerum Novarum, 1891).

8Artists help us see the world better and even teach it, through the pleasure of reading. A disciplinary analyzes of literary works make it possible to return to the epistemological issues of the discipline. Some pages point to theoretical questions clearly related to the geographies and history of health. They make it possible to approach theoretical aspects while avoiding that these remain disembodied from the sensitive dimension.

Figure 1. Literature and Health Geographics

Books titles

Authors of Novel

Authors of Health geographies articles

Environmental or natural landscapes

Social landscapes

Symbolic landscapes

Voyage au bout de la nuit

Céline, 1932.

Vaguet, 2024

- Determinism of tropical endemics.

- Distrust of nature and the countryside.

- Structuralism.

- Inequality and health.

- Social matters influence health.

- Insalubrious cities.

- Metaphorical journey.

- Death drive, sanity.

- Medicine and domination.

- Medicine and greed.

- Popular language.

La Montagne Magique

T. Mann, 1934.

W. Gesler, Social sciences and medicine, 2000.

- Altitude, sun, fresh air: Pseudo-therapeutics.

- Luxurious health setting.

- Money greedy doctors.

- Philosophy concerns.

- Love as a cure.

- TB as distinction.

Le Médecin de Campagne

H. de Balzac, 1833.

F. Tonnelier, S.E. Curtis, Health and Place, 2005.

- Exaltation of the rural world, healthy and honest, close to nature, to the village community.

- Successful campaigns.

- Sanitation, towards progress.

- Moral goodness.

- Redemption.

- Health regulations based on scientific “truth”.

Jeanne Eyre

C. Bronté, 1847.

A-Bewell, Fall 1996.

- Naturalism of diseases.

- Unsanitary places: boarding school and India.

- Romanticism and social control.

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Alain Vaguet, « “Journey” in the Health landscapes of Céline  »Revue francophone sur la santé et les territoires [En ligne], Varia, mis en ligne le 20 juin 2024, consulté le 12 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rfst/2145 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/11vts

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Alain Vaguet

Université de Rouen

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