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Louis-Ferdinand Celine

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Author

The Resume

    (May 27, 1894-July 1, 1961)
    Born in Courbevoie, France
    Birth name is Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches
    Earned medical degree in 1924
    Wrote 'Journey to the End of the Night' (1932), 'Death on the Installment Plan' (1936) and 'Castle to Castle' (1957)
    Wrote several anti-Semitic pamphlets during the 1930s and 1940s
    Convicted of collaboration in 1950 but granted amnesty a year later

Why he might be annoying:

    He enlisted in the French army as a teen to annoy his parents.
    He lied about being shot in the head during World War One.
    He divorced his first wife after one year and abandoned his second wife and five-year-old daughter.
    He openly and actively collaborated with France's Nazi occupiers.
    He fled to Denmark after Germany's defeat to avoid being tried for collaboration.
    He became a Holocaust denier after the war.
    His anti-Semitism caused him to be left off the list of 500 French Culture Icons. (2011)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He used his grandmother's given name as his pen name.
    He continued to educate himself after he was pulled from school in his early teens.
    He won a medal for bravery during World War One.
    He did charitable work as a doctor for the Rockefeller Foundation and the League of Nations.
    He doted on his parrot and cat.
    Defenders such as Will Self argue he hated almost everybody, not just Jews.
    His works' black comedy and fragmented style were widely admired and imitated by others, including the Beat poets.

Credit: Georgina


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 104 Votes: 55.77% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 29 Votes: 58.62% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying