“Right away Antoine pushed the fat mama down on her knees . . . He was awfully brutal . . . She had her ass up in the air . . . He tickled and teased her . . . He couldn’t find her dingat . . . He tore her ruffles . . . he tore everything in sight . . .”

—Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Death on the Installment Plan, translated by Ralph Manheim, 1966.