Lucette Destouches

Lucette Destouches (French pronunciation: [lysɛt detuʃ]; 20 July 1912 – 8 November 2019) was a French dancer.^[1][2][3] She was married to the writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline until his death in 1961.

Lucette Destouches
Destouches (left), François Gibault, and Maroussia Klimova in 1995
Born	Lucie Almansor 20 July 1912 Paris, France
Died	8 November 2019(2019-11-08) (aged 107) Meudon, France
Occupation	Dancer
Spouse	Louis-Ferdinand Céline ​ ​ (m. 1943; died 1961)​

Biography

Destouches was the daughter of Joseph Almansor and Gabrielle Donas Lucie Georgette Almansor.^[4] She was born on 20 July 1912 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Destouches married Louis-Ferdinand Céline on 15 February 1943 in the 18th arrondissement.^[5]

During World War II Céline expressed controversial views about the collaborationist regime in France; in September 1944 he and Lucette fled to Germany to escape retaliation. They later moved to Denmark before returning to France.^[6]

In his novels, Céline portrayed Destouches as Lili. The character appeared in Castle to Castle, North, and Rigadoon.

Céline died on 1 July 1961, and Destouches largely kept his death a secret.^{[citation needed]} Only thirty people attended the funeral, including Marcel Aymé, Claude Gallimard, Roger Nimier, Robert Poulet, Jean-Roger Caussimon, and Lucien Rebatet.^{[citation needed]}

Destouches began to teach classical dance. She taught courses with Judith Magre, Françoise Gallimard, Isabelle Gallimard, Ludmilla Tchérina, and members of 2Be3 during their early careers.^{[citation needed]}

Destouches was initially quite opposed to Marie Canavaggia's translations and the publications of Rigodoon and anti-Semitic works written by Céline, such as Bagatelles pour un massacre, L'École des cadavres, and Les Beaux Draps,^[7] but finally agreed in 2017.^[8] The projects were soon postponed indefinitely.^[9]

On her 100th birthday in 2012, Destouches had a series of texts by David Alliot written in her honor, titled Madame Céline.^[10][11]

Destouches died on 8 November 2019 at her home in Meudon.^[12] She was 107.