Andre Malraux (Andrae Malraux)

Malraux, AndrÉ - äNdrāˈ mälrōˈ, 1901–76, French man of letters and political figure. An intellectual with a broad knowledge of archaeology, art history, and anthropology. Malraux led a remarkably adventurous life. He traveled to Indochina looking for Khmer statuary; later witnessed the struggle in China (1927) between Communists and Nationalists, helped to organize the Republican air force in the Spanish civil war, and was a founder of the World League against Anti-Semitism. A French tank commander during World War II, he was captured by the Germans but escaped and became a resistance leader. Malraux served (1945, 1958) as minister of information under Charles de Gaulle; an enthusiastic adherent of de Gaulle, he became minister of cultural affairs in 1959. His writings on de Gaulle include Fallen Oaks (1971, tr. 1972). His outstanding novels, reflecting the tumult of his time, include La Condition humaine (1933; tr. Man's Fate, 1934), concerning the Shanghai uprisings, and L'Espoir (1938; tr. Man's Hope, 1938), set in Spain during the civil war. Amid violence and political chaos, Malraux's heroes struggle to maintain their dignity and humanity. Among his writings on art and civilization are Les Voix du silence (1951; tr. The Voices of Silence, 1953); The Metamorphosis of the Gods (tr. 1960), drawn from several of his works, including Le Musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale (3 vol., 1953–54); and Le Triangle noir (1970), studies of Goya, Laclos, and Saint-Just. In these works Malraux portrays art as an outgrowth of past art rather than a reaction to contemporary stimuli.

See his Anti-memoirs (1967, tr. 1968); memoir by C. Malraux (1967); biographies by R. Payne (1970), P. Galante (1971), J. Lacouture (tr. 1976), and C. Cate (1997); studies by V. M. Horvath (1969), T. J. Kline (1973), and W. M. Frohock (1974).

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