Lazarus

by André Malraux

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Genres: France, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Malraux was born in Paris during 1901, the son of Fernand-Georges Malraux and Berthe Lamy (Malraux). His parents separated during 1905 and eventually divorced. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Berthe and Adrienne Lamy in the small town of Bondy. His father, a stockbroker, committed suicide in 1930. Andre had Tourette's Syndrome during his childhood, resulting in motor and vocal tics.

At the age of 21, Malraux left for Cambodia with his new wife Clara Goldschmidt. In Cambodia, he undertook an exploratory expedition into the Cambodian jungle. On his return he was arrested by French colonial authorities for removing bas-reliefs from one of the temples he discovered. Banteay Srei (The French government itself had removed large numbers of sculptures and artifacts from already discovered sites such as Angkor Wat around this time). Malraux later incorporated the episode into his second novel La Voie Royale.

Malraux became very critical of the French colonial authorities in Indochina, and during 1925 helped to organize the Young Annam League and founded a newspaper Indochina in Chains.

On his return to France, he published The Temptation of the West (1926) which had the format of an exchange of letters between a Westerner and an Asian comparing aspects of the two cultures. This was followed by his first novel The Conquerors (1928), then by The Royal Way (1930) which was influenced by his Cambodian experience, and then by Man's Fate (La Condition Humaine). For La Condition Humaine, a novel about the 1927 failed Communist rebellion in Shanghai, written with obvious sympathy for the Communists, he won the 1933 Prix Goncourt.

During the 1930s, Malraux was active in the anti-Fascist Popular Front in France. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he joined the Republican forces in Spain, serving in, and helping to organize, their small air force. His squadron, called "España", became something of a legend after his claims of nearly annihilating part of the Nationalist army at Medellín.

According to Curtis Cate, his biographer, he was slightly wounded twice during efforts to stop the Falangists' takeover of Madrid, but the British historian Hugh Thomas denies this. He also toured the United States to raise funds for the Spanish Republicans. A novel influenced by his Spanish war experiences, Man's Hope, (L'Espoir) was published during 1938.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Malraux joined the French Army. He was captured in 1940 during the Battle of France but escaped and later joined the French Resistance. He was captured by the Gestapo during 1944 and underwent a mock execution. He later commanded the tank unit Brigade Alsace-Lorraine in defence of Strasbourg and in the attack on Stuttgart (Germany). He was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance, the Croix de Guerre. He was also awarded the British Distinguished Service Order for his work with British liaison officers in Corrèze, Dordogne and Lot, and after Dordogne had been liberated, leading a battalion of former resistance fighters to Alsace-Lorraine where they fought alongside the First Army.

During the war he worked on a long novel, The Struggle with the Angel based on the story of the Biblical Jacob. The manuscript was destroyed by the Gestapo after his capture in 1944. A surviving first part titled The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, was published after the war. He would never write another novel.

Malraux and his first wife divorced during the 1940s. His daughter from this marriage, Florence (b.1933), married the filmmaker Alain Resnais.

Malraux had two sons by his second wife Josette Clotis: Pierre-Gauthier (1940-1961) and Vincent (1943-1961). During 1944, while Malraux was fighting in Alsace, Josette died when she slipped while boarding a train. His two sons were killed during 1961 in an automobile accident.


After the war, Malraux served in a variety of government p

Reviews

[Fran Globlek · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful pieces of literature I have ever read. The last part of the author's Antimemoirs with fragments from life, fiction, and final thoughts about death... the author's last book.

This is a book for artists and those who view life as a mystery, but a mystery unable to be solved... just expressed.

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Megtévesztő könyv. Úgy kezdődik, mintha háborús regény lenne, mégpedig a világirodalom legplasztikusabb háborús regényeinek egyike az első világháború keleti frontjáról: egy német gáztámadás démoni, zsigerig ható ábrázolása. (Jut eszembe: az ember – ember? –, aki a harci gázokat kitalálta, önjogán a világegyetem egyik legaljasabb figurája.) Aztán kiderül, hogy ez mégsem egy háborús regény, hanem betegségkönyv, amiben az elképzelhetetlen borzalmak fejezetei csak egy újabb, tán csendesebb, de ugyanúgy elképzelhetetlen borzalmat vezetnek fel: a szerző kórházi hétköznapjait – haldoklás közben. Malraux szinte szemérmesen kerüli, hogy az esemény testi aspektusait említse, a folyamatot inkább egy mozgalmas életre* való visszaemlékezés szilánkjai rajzolják ki, valamint a filozófia-ízű diskurzusok az orvosokkal és önmagával. Helyenként a gesztusok mintha színpadiasak lennének – de ez valahogy csak aláhúzza a leírtak őszinteségét: a férfias helytállás ideája ugyan csak puszta póz az űr és a kétségbeesés peremén, és ezt ő is tudja, meg én is tudom, de ha már nem maradt semmi más, akkor egy póz is sokkal többet ér, mint a semmi, hogy átsegítsen ezen az egészen. Igazán figyelemreméltó könyv a halál árnyékának völgyéből.

(Ui.: A regény alcíme – A kötél és az egerek, VI. fejezet – sejteti, hogy itt egy hosszabb ciklus részletét olvassuk. Igazán jellemző a RaRe sorozatra, hogy arról, mi ez a ciklus, és mit kell tudni róla, konkrétan egy mukkot nem mond. Az meg már a google korlátait jelzi, hogy e téren ő sem tud eligazítani.)

* És Malrauxnak aztán mozgalmas élete volt: utazások, spanyol polgárháború, francia ellenállás, no és a miniszteri poszt. Korának ikonikus figurája volt ő.

[Maciek Białous · Rating 3 out of 5]

Druga i trzecia część książki - zapiski Autora oswajającego się ze śmiercią - są zbyt rwane i erudycyjne, żeby wywrzeć jakieś głębsze wrażenie, chociaż fragmentami interesujące. Natomiast pierwsza część, przepisany fragment wcześniejszej prozy Malraux, który traktować można w zasadzie jako odrębne opowiadanie, to potęga warta wszelkich gwiazdek na Goodreads. Użycie gazów bojowych w czasie I wojny światowej jest chyba tematem dość dobrze przepracowanym w książkach i filmach, ale do tej pory nie natknąłem się nic lepszego od tego. Piękne i wstrząsające.

[d · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Diario de lectura)

Llevaba 30 horas sin dormir y después de tomarme el litro de café correspondiente, manotié esto de la biblioteca. Sin saber absolutamente nada sobre lo que estaba por leer ni sobre Malraux. Error con suerte, nunca leí una prosa así. Por lo general prefiero las prosas limpias y concisas (por haber leído demasiado a algunos japoneses minimalistas) pero en Malraux el estilo es difícil y verborrágico, casi te expulsa todo el tiempo. Es un desafío seguirlo.

Tiene unas 40 páginas magníficas y terribles donde narra el avance del gas venenoso a través de la campiña para meterse en las trincheras de los rusos (sí, es un libro sobre la muerte). Acá Malraux no sé qué gualicho mete que sostiene la poesía, la descripción entre patética y caótica que por momentos se vuelve casi incomprensible por sus florituras, por sus imágenes extrañas. Y con todo, o gracias a todo, no paré de leer.

Esto empieza así-

He sido atacado por una enfermedad del sueño; mis piernas han flaqueado varias veces y he caído, como víctima de un síncope, aunque sin pérdida del conocimiento; luego, dos veces más en el curso de la misma semana –la segunda vez precedida por un vértigo convulsivo. Exámenes. Profesores y doctores no podrán ser consultados hasta dentro de doce días. Entretanto, esclerosis de los nervios periféricos y amenaza al cerebelo; por lo tanto, amenaza de parálisis. ¿Qué parálisis?...

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Late in 1960s, when I first read “Anti memoir” I became very interested in Malraux, his adventurous controversial life. Reading The Temptation of the West, found him fascination of the Asian cultures and religions. When he wrote about “The rise of China” already in 1930s, nobody could believe him. When young French generation was fascinated by Nihilism, he wrote In “The Conquerors”: “if one can live accepting the absurd, one cannot live in the absurd”. What still makes me interested in Mr. Ministry of Culture, is that he said what he meant, lived as he believed, pragmatist, but not opportunist. Lazarus is a long narration about death, as a guest in our existence but defiantly not enemy of our lives.

[Robert Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great memoir from one of the most dynamic literary figures of the 20th century. The book deals with death, which he wrote after nearly dying. Better, Malraux writes about the path to death in its various forms. He, himself, was essentially waiting to die, discovering that this was the first time he thought about death even though he had put himself in many perilous situations: before a firing squad; nearly being caught by the Gestapo in 1943; flying air missions for the Spanish Republican government during the Civil War.

[Arkelkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was weird

[Kirse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start, but hard to put down once I got into it. Disappointingly dumb ending.

[margot elm · Rating 2 out of 5]

the casual racism and orientalism was grating.