Abstract: This article examines so called « extreme » cinema in relation to Céline’s novels and Sartre’s Qu’est-ce que la littérature?. Insofar as he creates and maintains an aggressive and violent relationship to the reader, the Celinian narrator is a tyrannical « I » that interrogates and undermines the democratic model of readership theorized by Sartre. Céline also highlights and informs the aesthetic choices of such extremely violent films as Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002).
