ANDRE MALRAUX

Evening Star, Issue 23699, 5 October 1940, Page 15

ANDRE MALRAUX

A CHRONICLER OF CONFLICT Often out of the ordeal of war great literature is borne (says a writer in the Melbourne ‘Age’). Only when, fanned alternately by the hot breath of battle, the cold wind of death and disaster, do the sparks of a certain type of genius burst into flame. And among contemporary writers the French author Andre Matrons is most like he is a chronicler of conflict, of political upheaval, of war. Born in Paris, of wealthy parents, on November 8, 1901, . Malraux was educated during the last World War I years in various schools, finishing ac the Lycee Coudorcet and the Paris (school of Oriental Languages. At 21 he published a volume of verse. In 1923 he married a German Jewess, Clara Goldschmidt, and soon afterwards accompanied an archaeological expedition to ludo-China. His interest in archaeology hud been aroused by his study at the Paris School of Oriental Languages, where he learned Sanskrit. Since then ho has added to this ai knowledge of, German, Russian, Spanishj Italian, English, and Chinese, for he is a keen scholar, with a flair for languages. After a year of exploration Malraus left the expedition and interested himself in the labour aud economic problems of the country he had been travelling in, associating himself with, tho Young Annam League, which was advocating the independent of indoChina. To help in the league ha published a magazine, and in 1925 became assistant secretary of CochinChina’s Kuomintang. A year-later, during the revolution in China, though, he refused to espouse Coniniuuisnvhe was put in charge of revolutionary propaganda in Kwantung and Kwangsi. But by 1927, disgusted with the wavering loyalties of the Chinese revolutionaries, Malraux left China to return to his old love, archaeology. He went through Afghanistan and Persia, finding some rare archaeological specimens, and then returned to France, where ho joined the staff of a French publisher, and set up house in the Rue du Bac, in Paris. Whde his wife translated German hooks into French ; Malraus in his spare timo wrote, and in 1928 published hia first novel, ‘The Conquerors.’ Ita background the revolution in China, ‘ The Conquerors ’ pleased the critics, but failed financially, and was followed by a tale of adventure in indo-China, ‘ The Royal Way,’ which was not, however, up to the standard of its predecessor. But with ‘ Man’s Fate ’< (published in English under the title ‘Storm Over Shanghai’), which, won tho 1933 Prix Goncourt for literary merit, Malraux definitely “ arrived.” “ Tho Conquerors ’ dealt with ono aspect of the Chinese revolution—ita setting was the Canton revolt—and ‘ Man’s Fate ’ dealt with another, the action in Shanghai. Bitterly condemning Communism in 1 Man’s Fate,’ Malraux later as savagely condemned Fascism in ‘Days of Wrath ’; thus earning the distinction of being denounced by both sides! Jn '1934 Malraux qualified as are aviator aud made a daring flight'over Arabia. When the Spanish War broke out he organised and for a time commanded the varied assortment of planes that was the nucleus of the Loyalist air force. In between his duties as commander and hazardous flights—more than GO of them, during which ho was injured twice in crashes —over the nationalist .lines, Malraux would retire to his hotel in Madrid and work on his novel of the war, ‘ Man’s Hope.’ This novel, published in 1938, bears tho mark of its tempestuous begetting, and as effectively as ever it has been done puts on paper the savage reality of war. The genius of Malraux has enabled him—as Conrad would have it—“ to make you hear, to make you feel, to make you see ’* the conflict and its background as b» himself heard and felt and saw it.

To get funds for Spain, MaJraux made a successful lecture tour of tlia United States of America in 1937. Then, in September, 1939, lie abandoned all association with left-wing politics and. reported for service with the French annv, volunteering for the Tank Corps, probably the most dangerous of all land units It will bo a tragedy if Malraux was not spared to do for the present struggle of democracy agnu-jt Hitlerism what he has already done for China and Spain in ‘ Man’s Fate ’• and ‘ Man's Hope.’