Like Bardamu, Louis-Ferdinand Céline practiced medicine in the years after World War I. How does his knowledge of medicine affect the prose style of the novel? How do the author’s experiences as a physician inform Bardamu’s?

The novel tells the story of Bardamu’s journey into the symbolic night. Does he reach this destination? If not, how does he avoid it?

To what extent does Bardamu embody French colonialist attitudes? To what extent does he differ from or reject these attitudes?