André Malraux

This text analyzes Malraux's writing from his journalism in Indochina to his novels, art studies and (anti)memoralist essays. Cutting through the established dual biographical image of Malraux as a committed leftwinger, revolutionary novelist turned unconditional Gaullist, and diehard anti-communist at the Liberation, it makes a balanced assessment of Malraux as a non-ideological if elitist artist who shaped his public role as much as he shaped the existence of his heroes both novelistic and real.