Nicholas Hewitt is Professor of French at the University of Nottingham, and has taught previously at the universities of Hull, Southampton and Warwick. He has written widely on French literary and cultural history from the end of the First World War to the 1960s, including studies on Troyat, French interwar "malaise", Céline, and the postwar French literary Right.

• List of Illustrations. Preface.1. A Parisian Childhood.2. National Service: The Army and the Colonies.3. The Student of Medicine.4. The League of Nations.5. Clichy and Montmartre.6. Voyage au bout de la nuit.7. The 'House of Literature'.8. 1936.9. Anti-Semitism.10. Phoney War.11. The Occupation.12. Exile.13. Meudon.Conclusion.Notes.Bibliography.Index.

"Throughout his excellent, comprehensively documented critical biography, the best yet available in English, Hewitt contextualises his subject expertly." Times Higher Education Supplement"Taking advantage of recent biographies written in French and of newly available materials, Hewitt skilfully uses - and, at time, abuses - the available sources. At its best, Hewitt's clear and understandable prose takes the reader inside Céline's novel. He points out what to look for, explains what is important, and makes interesting connections." Choice "Very elegantly written book, which is also an intriguing presentation of French social and political life in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the first two-thirds of the twentieth." MLR

Nicholas Hewitt is Professor of French at the University of Nottingham, and has taught previously at the universities of Hull, Southampton and Warwick. He has written widely on French literary and cultural history from the end of the First World War to the 1960s, including studies on Troyat, French interwar "malaise", Céline, and the postwar French literary Right.

• List of Illustrations. Preface.1. A Parisian Childhood.2. National Service: The Army and the Colonies.3. The Student of Medicine.4. The League of Nations.5. Clichy and Montmartre.6. Voyage au bout de la nuit.7. The 'House of Literature'.8. 1936.9. Anti-Semitism.10. Phoney War.11. The Occupation.12. Exile.13. Meudon.Conclusion.Notes.Bibliography.Index.

"Throughout his excellent, comprehensively documented critical biography, the best yet available in English, Hewitt contextualises his subject expertly." Times Higher Education Supplement"Taking advantage of recent biographies written in French and of newly available materials, Hewitt skilfully uses - and, at time, abuses - the available sources. At its best, Hewitt's clear and understandable prose takes the reader inside Céline's novel. He points out what to look for, explains what is important, and makes interesting connections." Choice "Very elegantly written book, which is also an intriguing presentation of French social and political life in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the first two-thirds of the twentieth." MLR

Nicholas Hewitt is Professor of French at the University of Nottingham, and has taught previously at the universities of Hull, Southampton and Warwick. He has written widely on French literary and cultural history from the end of the First World War to the 1960s, including studies on Troyat, French interwar "malaise", Céline, and the postwar French literary Right.

• List of Illustrations. Preface.1. A Parisian Childhood.2. National Service: The Army and the Colonies.3. The Student of Medicine.4. The League of Nations.5. Clichy and Montmartre.6. Voyage au bout de la nuit.7. The 'House of Literature'.8. 1936.9. Anti-Semitism.10. Phoney War.11. The Occupation.12. Exile.13. Meudon.Conclusion.Notes.Bibliography.Index.

"Throughout his excellent, comprehensively documented critical biography, the best yet available in English, Hewitt contextualises his subject expertly." Times Higher Education Supplement"Taking advantage of recent biographies written in French and of newly available materials, Hewitt skilfully uses - and, at time, abuses - the available sources. At its best, Hewitt's clear and understandable prose takes the reader inside Céline's novel. He points out what to look for, explains what is important, and makes interesting connections." Choice "Very elegantly written book, which is also an intriguing presentation of French social and political life in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the first two-thirds of the twentieth." MLR