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Malraux

Name: Georges André Malraux

Achievements: Awarded the Prix Goncourt for La Condition humaine(Man’s Fate), appointed minister of cultural affairs.

Born: November 3, 1901; Paris, France

Died: November 23, 1976; Créteil, France

Field & Discipline: Literature, Art; Politics; Art History; Cultural Affairs

Language: French; English

Father: Fernand Malraux

Mother: Berthe Félicie Lamy Malraux

Siblings: Claude Malraux; Roland Malraux

Spouse: 1) Clara Goldschmidt; 2) Madeline Lioux (mistress and mother of sons, Josette Clotis)

Children: Vincent; Pierre-Gauthier; Florence; Josette Clotis (illegitimate by Madeline Lioux)

Education: primary school

Major Work:

Man’s Fate (1933)

Man’s Hope (1937)

Life & Times:

André Malraux was the son of a wealthy banker.  Malraux began working as a rare book scout and supplier in his teens.  He was so successful that at seventeen, against his father’s wishes, he went into business for himself rather than attend secondary school.  At eighteen Malraux had a critical essay on cubist poetry published in the recently established avant-garde monthly Action,and at nineteen he was hired by the rare book publisher Simon Kra to be his art director.

Paris remained a cosmopolitan centre of literary, graphic, and musical arts during World War I in part because talented foreigners like [knew] Picasso*, Marc Chagall and Brancusi were living there.  By the time he was twenty Malraux had gained a acquaintances in the literary-artistic circle of Paris.  Malraux had acquired a keen understanding of literature and art through his book peddling activities, which, combined with a quick wit and original ideas, opened avant-garde Paris to him.

In 1921 Malraux had a book published by Kahnweiler, who he was then working for.  The book Lunes en papier was illustrated by the painter Fernand [his work illustrated by] Leger*.  From 1928 to 1936 Malraux was in charge of the art book department of the publishing house Gallimard.

When Malraux was twenty-one he traveled to Cambodia in search of a temple which had recently been discovered.  He was arrested for removing sculptural elements from the site.  Malraux was released when he appealed to the French government, but while in jail he was badly mistreated by colonial authorities.  This experience turned Malraux into a passionate anti-colonialist and sparked his lifelong involvement as an advocate of social change.

While in Southeast Asia Malraux established a newspaper called Indochina inChains and founded the Young Annam League (the precursor of the Viet Nam League for Independence).  Malraux returned to the far-East several times during the 1920s and made significant archeological discoveries in Afghanistan, Iran and China.

In July of 1922 Malraux's first article for France’s most prestigious literary monthly, Nouvelle Revue Francaise(NRF) appeared.  Over the next four decades Malraux had some sixty articles published in NRF. After his second trip to Indochina in 1926 Malraux published his first novel La Tentation de l’Occident (The Temptation of the West).

During the 1930s fascism, especially Nazism, was growing in Europe.  Malraux recognized its threat and worked against it.  He campaigned for the release of international communists held by the Nazis, and was involved in a league against anti-Semitism before most of the world had learned that concentration camps existed.  Malraux’s first wife Clara Goldschmidt, whom he married in October of 1920, was Jewish.

Many of Malraux’s novels deal with revolutionary struggle and political idealism.  The novel that gained him worldwide recognition and praise, La Condition humaine (Man’s Fate 1933), is set in Shanghai and tells the story of Chinese Communists and European thrill seekers who are betrayed by former Communist allies.

When the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936 Malraux moved to Spain and joined the anti-Fascist Republican forces.  He organized and directed an international air squadron for them, despite having never been a pilot.  He eventually became a colonel in the Republican forces. After the war Malraux wrote his most cynical novel, L’Espoir(Man’s Hope 1937), which takes place during the first nine months of the war.

When World War II broke out Malraux abandoned the Communism he had been attracted to during the 1930s because the Soviet Union had signed a nonaggression pact with Germany.  He also enlisted in the French army.  However, they would not recognize his colonel status and he was forced to enlist as a private.

In April of 1939 Malraux received orders to report for duty with a mechanized cavalry regiment.  On June 16th Malraux was shot in the foot and taken prisoner.  Malraux escaped from a German prisoner of war camp to the French “free zone” in early November of 1940.  He continued to write and began working to help the French underground resistance in 1943.

In 1945 he met General [appointed by] de Gaulle* on the Alsatian front and the two became close friends.  As president of the Provincial Government of the French Republic, De Gaulle appointed Malraux temporary minister of information (Nov. 1945-Jan. 1946) in his first government.  De Gaull returned to power in 1958 and appointed Malraux minister of cultural affairs.  Malraux held the position for ten years.

While minister of cultural affairs Malraux accomplished the cleaning and preservation of historic buildings, sent the Mona Lisa to the United States for exhibition, and commissioned Marc [commissioned] Chagall* to paint the ceiling of the Paris Opéra.

After 1945 Malraux essentially abandoned writing novels for art history and art criticism.  His first major art book, which he had started prior to World War II, was published in 1947.  La Psychologie de l’artrefuted the en vogue idea that Western civilization was inevitably declining.  Malraux used the creative artist as an example of man using culture to triumph over the past.

In 1960 Malraux became the director of Gallimard publishing’s series of books on the art of the world, L’Univers des formes.  The series connected commonalities in works of art from different periods and places.

Malraux published his memoirs in 1967.  In 1974 he published part of the second volume of his memoirs.  The “plot” gravitated around modern art and Picasso, who Malraux had frequently visited when he was living and working not far from the Siene.

Malraux spent the last years of his life at Verriéres near Paris, where he received guests, wrote, and occasionally traveled.

Extra Connections: Malraux’s work, especially Man’s Fate and The Voices of Silence, was admired by US President [a fan was] Kennedy* In May of 1962 Malraux and his wife were invited to Washington D.C. by the President and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Malraux was friends with [was friends with] Camus*, the French novelist, playwright and political theorist who worked for leftist causes.

He conferred on China with [conferred with] Richard M. Nixon*

He met British poet Stephen [met] Spender*

Assessment: Malraux was a French novelist and government minister.  His work is often characterized as existentialist because it reflected the belief that a person’s life gains meaning through dedication to a cause.

Oneliner: Andre Malraux, French Minister and novelist.

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