July 4, 1961 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline (pictured in 1932), French novelist, whose final years were clouded by wartime collaboration and his violent anti-Semitism, died Saturday. He was 67 years old. Mr. Céline's most widely known books were "Journey to the End of the Night" and "Death on the Installment Plan." Both enjoyed critical and popular success in the U.S. when they were published in English, the former in 1934 and the latter in 1938. When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, Mr. Céline revealed himself as a Fascist and wrote a number of anti-Semitic tracts and books. When Germany collapsed, Mr. Céline fled to Denmark and later was convicted in absentia for "acts damaging to the state." He was sentenced to a year in prison, national degradation, and confiscation of half his property.
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