Today marks the 119th anniversary of the birth of the French writer and critic André Malraux.
Born on November 3, 1901 in Paris, France, Malraux ran away from home when he was 4 years old, and he and his mother lived with his grandmother and aunt in a grocery store in Bondi. Malraux said in Anti-Memoirs: "Almost all the writers I know love their childhood, and I hate my childhood." "He was born to speak the Tao, but he never talked about his family and early life, and throughout his life he wanted people to believe that he was born an adult.
Malraux was a social activist, a novelist and philosopher involved in politics, and perhaps an aestheticist. His early works, all set in the Far East, depict the strong desire of the peoples of the East to seek dignity from revolution and the fervent pursuit of freedom and friendship in the face of suffering and death. After the 1930s, his eyes turned to the left movement in Europe.
In 1923, he traveled to the Far East. During this period, he had frequent contacts with revolutionaries in Vietnam, China, and the Soviet Union at that time. Malraux returned to France in 1927.
He and Goni leon Molini orchestrated an attack on Saudi Arabia that took away Gothic Buddhist artwork from the Pamir region, which was exhibited in the New Francis Magazine in 1932.
Later, he and another writer, Andrei Gide, vigorously defended Dimitrov, the leader of the Bulgarian Revolution, who had been falsely accused by the German Nazis of being the mastermind of setting fire to the Reichstag. At that time, he was elected Chairman of the World Anti-Fascist Committee.
In 1936 he added the International Column in support of the Republic of Spain as commander-in-chief of foreign air forces. During World War II, Malraux led several guerrilla groups and served as commander-in-chief of the Alsace Lorraine Column in the campaign to liberate Alsace in 1945.
After the restoration of France, he stood closely with General de Gaulle politically. From 1945 to 1946, he was Minister of Information. Between 1947 and 1952, he was a national representative of the Awami League. From 1 June 1958 he was Minister of State in the French Presidency and later Minister of Culture. He has a special love for China, many of his works are based on the Chinese Revolution as the background and theme, he once visited China as an emissary of General de Gaulle, and made great contributions to promoting Sino-French cultural exchanges.
Malraux's major works include Paper Moon (1921, poetic novel), The Conqueror (1928, writing about the 1925 Chinese Provincial Workers' Strike), Wangjia Avenue (1930), Hope (1937, about the Spanish Civil War), as well as several literary reviews, autobiographical novels, memoirs, etc.
The masterpiece "The Human Condition" is an excellent literary work that looks at the Chinese revolution from the perspective of Westerners. As soon as it was released, it became a sensation in France and won the Goncourt Prize of the French Literary Award in 1933. The novel is based on the Shanghai workers' movement in 1927 and begins with an assassination campaign by revolutionary Chen, describing the armed uprising under the leadership of the Communist Party and the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup launched by Chiang Kai-shek. This book shows how people defend human dignity in an alienated society and find the meaning and courage to live as a human being and die as a human being.
Malraux is a third genius, a third false and a third incomprehensible.
--Raymond Aron, a famous French thinker
abstract
Gissol stared at the thin face with his eyes closed, illuminated by a small lamp underneath it, creating a lighting effect on Ferrar's beard. Several gunshots rang out in the distance. How many people's lives and deaths are decided in this night fog? He stared at this extremely nervous face: the tension caused by some humiliation in the depths of his own heart; he resisted it with the ridiculous power of man's resentment. Hatred between the sexes takes precedence over this humiliation; this most ancient hatred seems to be regenerated from the blood that is still flowing on earth, even though the earth is soaked with blood.
There were a few more gunshots, this time so close that the cups on the table trembled.
Gisol had long been accustomed to the sound of gunfire coming from Chinatown every day. Although Qiang ya had called, the sound of the gun suddenly made him feel worried. He did not understand Ferrar's political role. He felt natural to sit next to Ferrar (he never "got involved", even in his own private affairs), but he didn't want to help Ferrar anymore. A few more gunshots rang out, this time farther away.
"What happened?" Gisol asked.
"I don't know. The leaders of the Blue and Red parties solemnly and jointly declared solidarity. It doesn't seem to be a problem. ”
"He's lying," Gissol thought, "he knows at least as much as I do." ”
"Whether it's the 'Red Party' or the Blue Party," Ferrar said, "coolies are still coolies unless they die." Man's life is only once; isn't it utterly stupid to lay down one's life for a certain thought?"
"Very few people can stand it (how to say it?) My own situation as a human being..."
He remembered one of the ideas of Qiang Ya: that the cause for which people are willing to die always transcends profit, but more or less preserves this situation, describing it as dignity: Christian doctrine for slaves, state for citizens, communism for workers.
——" The Human Condition (translated by Ding Shizhong)
(Written by Colette)
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