Secrets dans l’îsle / Secrets on the Isle

by Louis-Ferdinand Céline / translated by Mark Spitzer

A Breton island in the Atlantic — From its shores, Ouessant, Molène can be seen — The sea is often violent — Great reefs — Tremendous storms — Nature in delirium.

A population of impoverished fisherman — The earth is rare and arid — All the work in the fields and on the roads is done by women.

Religious fanaticism — Poverty — Semi-famine and ancient paganism mixed together — pardons are granted in a medieval way — Superstition, prayer, drinking bouts, eroticism, long foggy winters.

Strangers are rare on the Isle and they’re not well received — A few painters come in the summer.

The Island women are passionate, secretive and cunning — Body type: small and stocky with slanty eyes...

They are people of the wind, mistrustful, given to sudden revolt. There are long periods of gestating passion — The women are sensual, jealous, and heavy drinkers — The men are hard drinkers also, and day dreamers with fits of cruelty — during the tempest, there are shipwrecks on the reefs on the Isle — Everyone is both a lifesaver and a pillager of wrecks as well as a shipwrecked killer and a drinker of looted rum...

Every year, numerous fishing boats are lost at sea. There are numerous widows...

One Stormy day in spring, a sailing yacht, the Black Stranger, smashes into the reefs of Cormorant Cove.

The islanders come down to pillage what they can from the boat.

The owner, a foreign woman named Erika, commands the boat alone — She is beautiful, domineering, and magical — She is taken to a fisherman’s house... They revive her... A few days pass... she decides to remain on the Isle for a while.

She speaks little, asks few questions... She receives brief replies... She gives them money... she is excited by the resistance of these poor island folk... she has a house prepared for her near the tip of the Isle... she settles in.

Around this stranger, the inhabitants go on with their lives, a bit uneasily... Something is going to happen... They’re a little mistrustful of her...

Nevertheless, she takes the Isle’s little laundress into her service — Yvonnik, twenty years old — who also serves as a chambermaid.

A sort of warmth establishes itself between them, fidelity begins to grow between Yvonnik and Erika...

Yvonnik resists, though little by little, gives in to the charms of the stranger — but then she takes hold of herself... while carrying out her duties, she secretly watches Erika... whose spell works on Yvonnik as it would on any animal. She smells danger... she doesn’t want to be friendly... and then she softens a bit. They have some short conversations about work. Erika is both amused and irritated by this resistance, this wariness... Yvonnik spies on her... And pockets the money she makes with heavy mistrust...

Yvonnik is betrothed to Yann who also lives on the Isle... he is twenty-two, an impoverished fisherman, not very resourceful, and even more of a daydreamer than the others... When he is on shore, he accompanies Yvonnik on her errands for Erika. So he sometimes speaks to Erika. He suggests taking care of the front garden where the violent winds makes it difficult to grow flowers.

Erika loves the flowers... He constructs windbreaks out of stone for each plant... Erika talks to him, in the village he plays the accordion, he sings... Erika wants to hear him too, but near her own house. In exchange, Erika tells him stories about faraway countries she has sailed to on her boat... places where she’s stopped... where he has never been... She is, all in all, “more of a sailor” than he is... She makes fun of him about this... Erika sparks his imagination... But he soon goes back to the sea and fishing... He’s never on shore for very long...

Yvonnik is a offended by the occasional exchanges between Yann and Erika...

Yvonnik is a bit jealous of everything... of him... of her... she holds everything deep inside... silently... she sulks... Erika amuses herself by teasing Yvonnik about this too... Yvonnik admires Erika... he watches her get dressed... and helps her get dressed... Yvonnik studies Erika... and sighs...

The rumor circulates that Erika is a moviestar in America and Germany...

Yvonnik would like to know more, but doesn’t dare ask... One day Yann returns from Brest with a film magazine that he found in a café... A picture of Erika, half naked, on the front cover... He admires the picture but doesn’t say anything to anybody... He folds it up, hides it in his bag, and keeps it for himself.

Meanwhile, the other fishermen start to get excited and hang around outside Erika’s house... The storm broods... In the bistro two sailors get into a fight... Even when they land in Brest, people find them a little changed... They provoke each other, punch each other, never saying what their quarrels are about... The storm brood... In the evenings after dinner, by chance, the men meet up near Erika’s house...

Challenges... teasing... battles... The women of the Isle, both old and young, also find reasons to be irritated... which disguise their deepest jealousies...

The bonesetter on the Isle, Mother Kralik, a sort of sorceress who is particularly venomous... is also jealous of the stranger’s prestige...

When Yvonnik washes and irons Erika’s clothes at her own home, her friends and neighbors gather around her ironing board... and Erika’s perfumed lingerie... it’s transparent... made of silk... the object of treacherous remarks... Yann is suffering but doesn’t dare say anything. There are some comments... some macho erotic fantasies... The insulting remarks of women... “The underwear of a whore!”... “She’d be better off in a brothel in Brest!”...

In the summer, a painter comes to work on the Isle... accompanied by his daughter Suzanne, who is fresh and lively... eighteen years old... They soon meet Erika... who immediately invites them to her home... they stay up with her... A lively, too lively friendship springs up between Suzanne and Erika...

Yvonnik is unhappy over this... she becomes bad tempered and jealous...

The fishermen worry about this uncertain situation...

Scenes in Erika’s house... Yvonnik redoubles her cunning and also her aesthetic despair...

While putting Erika’s things on the dressing room table, she studies her face in the mirror and compares her features to those in Erika’s portrait... Erika has wide eyes... Yvonnik’s are small and slanty... Erika has smooth cheeks... Yvonnik has large square cheeks... She powders them to see what happens... It doesn’t work for her... It makes her look worse... She has short stubby legs... She tries to stretch her face with her fingers... She tries to pull her eyes open wider... She tries on a pair of high-heeled shoes... Nothing can be done...

Jealousy eats deeper into her... it works deep down inside her... In her stubby little hand she crushes a pot of cream like a pomegranate... and gets it all over her fingers...

She lets out a strange laugh... then sheds two tears...

Erika and Suzanne go bathing together on a little beach among the rocks...

The men of the Isle sneak up on them... They spy on them... They see things...

Emotions run high...

Yvonnik goes to Yann’s house and finds the magazine by his bed, she spies on him while he folds it up and puts it in his bag... which he takes to his fishing boat... while Yvonnik’s picture remains in full view:

She doesn’t say anything... She stews...

The fishing boats leave the port...

The women go to the fields and do their lacework... and drink...

After two days a tempest starts blowing in from the sea... uneasiness on the Isle...

Yvonnik walks through the wind... apart from the others... jealous...

One evening, there’s a meeting of women at the bonesetter’s house. Everyone has been drinking a lot... All the women are anxious... Things start heating up!... Shyness vanishes, wickedness rises... Another round is drunk... of flaming punch...

Mother Kralik is watching Yvonnik... Using wicked words, she cast a spell upon her... she gestures secretly... beneath her skirt she has a small wax doll which she sticks pins into while others shout... the doll represents Erika...

Everyone gets drunk... One of the shrews calls Yvonnik an idiot!... Yvonnik wants to fight the old women...

“You’d be better off taking on your bitch!... You’re scared of her...”

“You’re her little wench... She’s got you in her spell!...”

There are no servants on the Isle.

“Me? Scared of her?...”

“Yes, you wash her feet! You wash her bottom!...”

“You’ll see how scared of her I am!... I’m gonna wash her soul!... Yeah, her soul, I tell you!... The bitch!... Me, afraid of her?... I know her too good!”

And off they go, all of them, following Yvonnik while Mother Kralik works them up... they head through the storm... toward the tip of the Isle...

“I’ll spit in her face! I’ll rip the evil right out of her belly!... The bitch, I’ll take care of her... that movie bitch!... Me? Scared of her?...”

All the women are in a frenzy... They rush to Erika’s house... they break her windows with pebbles... then burst in with the storm... in a wave of fury... just when Suzanne and Erika are getting undressed... to go to bed...

Yvonnik jumps on Erika... shouts insults in her face... looking her up and down...

“Filthy slut!... Thief of hearts!... Say why you came here! Come on!... You can’t say it, right?... Why did you come! You can’t say?... You should’ve stayed where you came from! You come from the Devil!... From the bottom of the sea! Ain’t I right, Mother Kralik? The whore comes from the bottom of the sea... And the other one also! Well, I’m the Devil too!... And I’m gonna do a make-up job on you!... Hold her!... Hold her tight... I’m gonna get her ready... to marry the Devil!”

The women grab Erika...

Yvonnik forces rouge all over Erika’s lips, putting it everywhere, making her look like a clown...

The women shriek, completely drunk and sadistic. Some of them pinch and bite her... blood runs down Erika's thighs...

Yvonnik continues...

“You’ve got big wide eyes, huh? Come on, tell me you’ve got big wide eyes, you bitch... the wide eyes of a whore!... and the neck of a whore!... and the milkless tits of a whore!... well, I’m gonna give you some little eyes... little cock-hole eyes!... Hold her head still!...

Six women hold her head against the sofa...

“I’m gonna sew them together!...”

Yvonnik has a needle and thread and is going to sew Erika’s eyelids shut...

At that moment, Suzanne, slightly set back from the scene... completely terrified... pulls a revolver out of a drawer and fires three shots at Yvonnik... who collapses dead...

For an instant, the Furies are surprised... Then their frenzy is redoubled... Cries of hate... Shrieks...

“All together! All together!”

They rip the clothes off Erika and Suzanne... They look around for some rope... they find some...

The two women are tied together naked...

Mother Kralik leads the madness... She pours all the perfumes on the dressing table on Erika and Suzanne... for a laugh...

Another shrew pisses on them...

The screaming pack carries the two bound women though the squall, to the edge of the cliff...

They throw them down to the sea, bound together...

Their screams are lost in the violence of the storm...

Six days pass... The fishing is over... The fishermen return...

Many boats have been battered and crippled, men have been lost at sea...

The fleet makes its way home the best it can... it approaches the Isle... From one of the boats they spot the bodies of Erika and Suzanne floating just below the surface...

They’re hauled on board... on Yann’s fishing boat... the corpses of Suzanne and Erika are taken down to the crew’s quarters... they're laid out on the table.

During his watch, alone in the night... Yann leaves the helm for a bit... he wants to kiss Erika, no one will see him...

They return to port...

They women, in capes, are waiting on the slips...

They can see the bodies of the two women on the deck of Yann’s boat...

No one says anything... Yann stays silent...

All the women lower their heads...

The fishermen carry off the body of a cabin-boy killed by a yard-arm which fell on his head...

The men realize what happened while they were away, but remain quiet...

The priest also... Yann also... nothing is said...

There’s a Mass for the dead at the church... Men on one side... Women on the other. In front of the altar... three coffins. The little cabin-boy in the middle... Yann is with the men... Mother Kralik is with the women... the interior of the church...

Organ music...

Rain on the Isle.

An earlier draft of this translation appeared in Exquisite Corpse #60, 1996.