Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Author:Louis-Ferdinand Céline [Céline, Louis-Ferdinand]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: World War I, Literary, Noir fiction, Humorous, France, French, Fiction, Autobiographical fiction, European, Literary Criticism, World War; 1914-1918, General, Military, Paris (France) - Social conditions, History
ISBN: 9780811200172
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Published: 2012-11-05T23:27:57+00:00

I'd asked people right and left if they didn't know of a job, I'd pestered everybody, I'd looked at every name-plate in town, analyzed all the directories and telephone books. I went back to the rue Vieille-du-Temple . . . For at least a week I roamed along the Canal Saint-Martin, looking at the barges . . . the quiet movement of the locks . . . I went back to the rue Elzévir. I was so worried I woke up with a start in the middle of the night . . . I had an obsession that got stronger and stronger . . . It squeezed my head like a vise . . . I wanted to go back to Gorloge's . . . All of a sudden I felt a terrible pang of remorse, an irresistible sense of shame, a curse . . . I was getting ideas like a poor bastard, absolutely screwy . . . I wanted to go up to Gorloge's and frankly confess, accuse myself . . . in front of everybody . . . "It was I that stole . . ." I'd say . . . "It was I that took the beautiful pin! The pure-gold Sakya-Muni . . . It was I . . . Absolutely positively!" I worked myself up. Hell! Once I get it over with, I said to myself, my bad luck will leave me . . . I was under a spell . . . every fiber in my brain! The idea gave me such horrors I was always shivering . . . It got to be irresistible . . . Christ! . . . Well, in the end I actually went back to the house . . . in spite of the sizzling heat I had the cold shivers . . . I was in a panic! I catch sight of the concierge . . . She takes a good look at me, she recognizes me from far away . . . So I try to remember, to figure out why I'm guilty . . . I start for her den . . . First I'll tell her all about it! . . . Shit! . . . No, I can't do it . . . I've got the jitters . . . I about-face quick . . . I get out of there fast . . . I run down toward the Boulevards . . . what in hell's the matter with me? . . . I was acting like an ass! I was going nuts . . . all sorts of crazy crummy ideas . . . I stopped going home for lunch . . . I took bread and cheese with me . . . I was sleepy in the afternoon from sleeping so badly at night . . . Always being woken up by dreams . . . I had to keep walking the whole time or I'd fall asleep on a bench .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.