Ferdinand Bardamu

Ferdinand Bardamu is the antiheroic protagonist of Louis Ferdinand Céline's 1932 novel "Journey to the End of the Night" ("Voyage au bout de la nuit").

The antihero's first name, Ferdinand, is shared with Céline, the author/narrator for whom he acts as a surrogate.ref|a| [a] His surname, Bardamu, is derived from the French words "Barda"—the "pack" carried by World War I soldiers—and "mu", the past participle of the verb "mouvoir", meaning to move. As the novel progresses, circumstances compel Bardamu to give up his "baggage" of conventional morality and the optimism of youth.Solomon, p.17]

Footnotes

The two would later be combined as "Louis Ferdinand Bardamu" by the narrator Raphael of Modiano's "La Place de L'étoile" (1968).O' Keefe, p.32]

Citations

References

*cite book | last = O'Keefe | first = Charles | title = A Riffaterrean Reading of Patrick Modiano's La Place De L'etoile | publisher = Summa Publications | location = Birmingham | year = 2005 | isbn = 1883479487
*cite book | last = Posen | first = Solomon | title = The Doctor in Literature | publisher = Not Avail | year = 2006 | isbn = 1857757793
*cite book | last = Solomon | first = Philip | title = Understanding Céline | publisher = University of South Carolina Press | location = Columbia | year = 1992 | isbn = 087249814X