BY CHARLES D. BLE MALRAUX TRAGIC HUMANIST BY CHARLES D. BLEND The dominant question arising from the unparal­ leled inhumanity of the mid-twentieth century, Andre Malraux has suggested, is "Is man dead?" Yet, for him, to pose the question is to answer it, for man proves his greatness, not by affirming it, but by questioning. It is by a mise en question of the universe that man rises above it. This interpretation, long central to Malraux's thinking, brings with it a number of difficulties. Previous concepts of man have produced an image, an ideal, toward which man could orient himself, and have presupposed a culture that had a form and, often, a humanistic attitude that alloted man a role in the scheme of things. With a vision of man based on questioning rather than affirmation, it becomes impossible to preconceive (continued on back flap) ANDRE MALRAUX tragic humanist Je ne sais d'assures, dans le chaos du sort, Que deux points seulement: la souffrance et la mort. Tous les hommes y vont avec toutes les villes, Mais les cendres, je crois, ne sont jamais steriles. —ALFRED DE VIGNY, Paris ANDRE MALRAUX tragic humanist by Charles D. Blend Ohio State University Press Copyright © 1963 by the Ohio State University Press All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 62-19865 To the memory of my brother, the late George W. Blend, Captain, Cavalry, AUS, with whom I knew "la fraternite virile," and who showed by example that life can be lived with dignity while one is fully aware of approaching death. "L'irreductible accusation du monde qu'est un mourant qu'on aime." ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE DEBTS I owe to others for help in the preparation of this study are numerous and important. I am very grateful to Andre Malraux for the encouragement he gave me after reading this work in its original form and for the additional valuable information he furnished, not only in conversa­ tion and letters, but in the hard-to-find texts he so kindly supplied. He was also most generous in granting me permission to quote extensively from his writings. A very special gratitude is due to Don L. Demorest of the Ohio State University, whose course on the contemporary French novel first made me aware of Andre Malraux, and whose enlightened understanding, encourage­ ment, and suggestions aided me at every stage of the preparation and execu­ tion of my work. I wish also to thank the following American and British publishers, hold­ ers of the copyrights to the excellent English translations of Malraux's works, for their permission to excerpt passages from their editions, and for their generous authorization to substitute my own somewhat uneven trans­ lations for the official ones: Doubleday and Company, Inc.; Random House, Inc.; John Lehmann Ltd.; Martin Seeker and Warburg Ltd.; and Methuen and Company Ltd. These same courtesies were also extended to me in con­ nection with the extracts from Saturn: An Essay on Goya, by Andre Malraux, published by Phaidon Press Ltd., London, and distributed by the New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Connecticut. The editors of Yale French Studies were kind enough to permit me to re-use in the second chapter of this book much of the same material that appeared in my article "The Rewards of Tragedy.'' viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The American Philosophical Society has ray sincere appreciation for the grant of travel funds that made it possible for me to do necessary research in France. My colleagues, Kenneth R. Scholberg of the Ohio State University, James Doolittle of the University of Cincinnati, Juan B. Avalle-Arce of Smith College, and Bruce W. Wardropper of Duke University are all offered my gratitude for reading and listening to my text and offering valuable sug­ gestions for its improvement. Finally, I wish to thank my wife, Rhoda C. Blend, for the long hours spent typing and proofreading. CHARLES D. BLEND CONTENTS Introduction 1 I. An Active Humanist 9 II. Humanism and Tragic Poetry 47 III. Ethos, or the Struggle with the Demon 75 IV. Artistic Creation, or the Struggle with the Gods 145 V. The Fundamental, or the Struggle with the Earth 187 VI. The Problem of the Absolute 207 VII. The Individual and the Culture 221 Epilogue on the Tragedy of Political Action 231 Appendix Address Given by His Excellency Andre Malraux, Minister of Cultural Affairs of the French Republic, on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the French Institute of New York, on Tuesday, May 15, 1962 237 Bibliography 247 INTRODUCTION WITH General de Gaulle's return to power in the spring of 1958, history brought Andre Malraux back before the public in the role of a man deeply involved in the great events of our time. From the relative seclusion in which Malraux had been preparing his books on art, he emerged to plunge full force into the French political crisis. This was the latest, but probably not the last, of a series of moves from action to art and vice versa, by a man who has, as have few others, associated himself closely and vitally with both. It would be difficult to find a more dramatic illustration of this dual activity than that encompassed in the period from the end of 1957 through the first months of 1958. When the first volume of The Metamor­ phosis of the Gods {La Metamorphose des Dieux)1 appeared in the closing weeks of 1957, interest in it was so great that the first edition, in spite of its high price, was bought up as soon as it reached the bookstores. With a few notable exceptions, French critics were extreme in their praise of the work, many seeing in it, even though it was incomplete, one of the greatest works of all time on art. According to one of Malraux's closest friends, he intended it to be a climax in his literary production. Nevertheless, when the events that led to De Gaulle's reappearance as prime minister took place, Malraux dropped all work on the second volume of his book to be­ come: first, Minister of Information; then, Minister Delegate; and finally, 11 have used the standard American titles for the works of Andre Malraux that have been translated into English. French titles have been retained for the untrans­ lated works. ANDRE MALRAUX: TRAGIC HUMANIST Minister of Cultural Affairs in the new government. This last probably gave him his best opportunity to date to synthesize art and action. One of the best indications of the extent and depth of Malraux's impact is the quantity of criticism and controversy he has aroused. Much of this is written from a religious or political parti-pris and makes little effort to grasp the genuine significance of Malraux's work, being more interested in attacking or refuting his major premises. In part, the quantity and inten­ sity of this criticism stems from the fact that everything Malraux has writ­ ten implies a specific attitude toward life, an attitude that is often seriously in conflict with the tenets of major political, religious, and artistic positions extant in the contemporary world. It is also, in part, because he puts it forward with such force and persuasiveness that it hits with enormous im­ pact, although he is always careful to state that his attitude toward the world is just one among many that are possible. The result has been that the opposition to some aspects of his works has been distinguished, not only by its volume and intensity, but also by the stature of those who have voiced it. No less a revolutionary figure than Leon Trotsky felt called upon to bring Malraux to task for what he, Trotsky, felt were ideological short­ comings in The Conquerors {Les Conquerants). Roger Garaudy, the keeper of the index for the French Communist Party, has gone to considerable lengths to prove that Malraux is not really worth reading after all, that he is only "the finest flower of bourgeois decadence." The Honor of Being a Man, by Edward Gannon of the Society of Jesus, is essentially a riposte at Malraux's agnosticism. All these, however, are dwarfed by Georges Du­ thuit's Le Musee inimaginable, a three-volume blast at Malraux's art the­ ories. To justify this much effort to refute Malraux, these writers must have felt that he is not only wrong but decidedly influential. To cite Sainte Beuve: "Nothing serves better to mark the extent of a talent, to circum­ scribe its sphere and its domain, than to know the precise points at which the revolt against him begins." ANDRE MALRAUX: TRAGIC HUMANIST Even when critics who write from strongly held viewpoints do attempt to treat Malraux's writings impartially, they often fail to grasp its unity and most profound meaning because, to paraphrase a remark made by Mal­ raux in D'une jeunesse europeenne, they see it through the filter of a world vision that is not that of the work itself. The fundamental source of the major actions in Malraux's life and in all his works from The Temptation of the West (La Tentation de I'Occident) to the present is to be found in his metaphysical position, the analysis of which is one of the major objec­ tives of this book. Any reader or critic is, of course, free to accept or reject Malraux's attitude as he chooses, but any endeavor to interpret his work that substitutes a Christian, Marxist, or any other vision for Malraux's own can be at best only partially successful. To be fully apprehended, Mal­ raux's life and writings must be considered on their own terms.