Celine On Fire

Set during the Cold War, "Céline on Fire" is a coming of age story in 1950s Paris. Céline Colbert, 14, a dancer, her sister Yvonne, 28, professor of philosophy and history at the Sorbonne, share a taxi in the rain with Giovanni Sandretti, 23, an Italian-American, trumpet player born in Viterbo, Italy. In the Parisian worlds of jazz, flamenco, and tango, Giovanni becomes Yvonne's lover, and Céline's friend. Each of the characters share the narration from chapter to chapter like a jazz trio swapping riffs as they improvise on a common theme. After a shattering tragedy, Céline struggles to find herself as both an artist and a woman. In a time when everyone went out dancing, and Parisians endlessly debated politics in the cafés, the novel recreates the era of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Audrey Hepburn, with dance sequences of ballet, jazz, ballroom, Latin and tango, reprising the 1950's musicals of Gene Kelly's "American in Paris." Haunted by heartbreak, Céline is a resilient role model for young women trying to find themselves. Intelligent yet sensual, disciplined but burdened with grief--falling down then climbing back to her feet--Céline saves herself through dance. On Giovanni's jazz tour behind the Iron Curtain, fans in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia share stories of their quest for freedom. Attila and Zizi in Budapest recount the terror of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and Les Gordon, the leader of the group, an African-American living in Paris to escape racism, tells of the race massacre in Tulsa, and the heartbreaking Indian Removal under President Andrew Jackson confiscating the lands of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Muskogee-Creek nations, forcing them through snow and ice to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears where one out of four died, raising the question, how do we forgive mass murder? Is atonement possible for a nation's deeds in the past? "Céline on Fire" poses the question, why read history? Written by an artist rather than a historian, "Céline" explores historical and philosophical ideas through the means of conversation--history viewed by an artist rather than a scholar. "Céline" shows how the Dreyfus Affair in France in 1894 resulted in the creation of Israel in 1948 and how the creation of Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Palestine after World War One enflamed the struggle between Shias and Wahhabiya Sunnis, Palestinians and Israelis. The book tells of Senator McCarthy 1950's witch hunt for traitors in our government, bringing to mind the words of Michel de Montaigne, 'There is no passion as contagious as that of fear.' Fear is the mother of war, fascism and genocide. "Céline" shows how a demagogue can rise to power in a democracy by unleashing that fear, seizing power by creating a world of unreality. While recounting the attacks against democracy in the 20th century, "Céline on Fire" tells a sweeping tale of romance and a passion for music and dance.