Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE. 7L.AS., [Korsør 1950-1951], to Janine Daragnès; 18 1/2 pages in-fol. (one letter torn and missing). Daragnès dies. [Daragnès died on July 25, 1950, following an operation]. July 30 [1950]. "Lucette and I are stunned by the terrible blow [...] Oh we had a premonition of atrocious news. Your pain must be such that my miserable expressions of sorrow can only make you feel even worse... This abominable absence all of a sudden, this kind of crime, unforgivable, when it comes to someone so extraordinarily brave and good and gifted... His departure Madame makes us even more unhappy. In our abominable condition, he was one of our few hopes, our last trust"... 15th [August]. Pastor Löchen visits. Céline asks Mme Daragnès to transfer to Löchen's account, who will remit it to her, the sums received for him by Daragnès. "I'm in debt, we're in debt!"... August 22nd. Pastor Löchen is confused about his accounts. "Total: I haven't received anything yet! [...] We think about Daragnès all the time, almost every hour. We can't convince ourselves that he's gone... or that we're still here. [...] You know, I'm a man of memories. I don't live much in the present, especially now! August 29 [August]. "I'm always afraid of owing money! It's instinctive!" So Löchen has 330,000 francs; Céline will be able to clear her debts. "Monnier has the copy of Scandale [aux Abysses]. It's all right. He's managing to get it printed in a hurry. It must be done! before the Events! If possible! He'll have this little joke illustrated as best he can. Daragnès is no longer there - so what does it matter now? The main thing is to go fast! - Oh Bourbons, let them stay where they are! I'll be damned if I'm going to mix with the Princes!" He has nothing ready to print: "Absolutely nothing, and probably nothing ever again. Céline is finish, finibus. He's had enough. He's dead"... November 12. "You know we're talking about amnesty - to proclaim that we don't want it at all! Naud hasn't given me any sign of life. He must be waiting for the general amnesty (around 1955) or 60!" Visit from the charming young Gaby Paul [wife of Gen Paul]... February 6, 1951: "I'm reading you and I think I'm hearing you at the same time as our Gab. You know, exile produces people who forget nothing, on the contrary. It's easy for them to stay for 20 years, as we've often observed, at the same point of sorrow. They don't move: they're photos - taken, fixed - so think if our memory doesn't leave Gab! We talk about it every day"... His daughter Colette [Turpin] has just undergone surgery. "Monnier is doing everything possible and very well very skillfully and very honestly - finally. But I'd have to bring out a new book. I'm thinking... the enormous labor first... and then awakening so many vigilant hatreds... all this capering faribole disgusts me so much! I'd so much like to be left to grow old and die like everyone else! like the little suburban doctor I've never stopped being"... May 6 [1951]. "Your affectionate letter awakens, or rather intensifies, the grief of having lost the one you mourn, that we mourn. God knows I'm ill-disposed to phrases, I who am a craftsman, but I can well say that he is present with us always. It is largely, very largely, thanks to him that this miracle was accomplished, alas, he passed away... Dear Daragnès, what concern, what infinitely delicate and sensitive work he had accomplished around my miserable case. [...] We are still stunned by this emergence from a 7-year nightmare. And here we are before an epileptic world, it seems, of hatreds and other persecutions"... Attached is a L.A.S. to Daragnès, July 20 [1950], expressing concern before his friend's operation (3/4 page in-fol.).