Signed, Malraux - Hardcover

Lyotard, Jean-Francois

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816631069 ISBN 13: 9780816631063

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1999

Synopsis

Traces the life and career of the French novelist, describing his participation in the Spanish Civil War, command of a World War II resistance brigade, and his position as a government minister

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Reviews

Working a typically playful vein, French philosopher Lyotard (d. 1998), one of the foremost theorists of postmodernism, has written an idiosyncratic depreciation of Andr? Malraux (1901-1976), the self-publicizing professional intellectual who was enshrined in the Pantheon in 1996 as a hero of culture. Beginning as an anarchist and then a Communist-leaning adventurer, Malraux became an esteemed novelist (Man's Fate, Man's Hope) and ended up as Charles de Gaulle's minister of culture. Lyotard's ambiguous attitude toward his subject is captured in the term farfeluAhe uses it dozens of times, but it is left untranslatedAan all-purpose term for harebrained, eccentric or even senseless. Lyotard, no respecter of mere chronology, whipsaws the reader in time from one decade to another, granting Malraux his grudging admiration for creating a personal "fantasy machine" and for "signing his life as if it were one of his works" (hence the title). The Malraux he presents is, in a series of farfelu images, "a bit of a punk" and an "odd bird" who "loathed himself as a little boy whose diurnal stupidities would by evening be absolved by the leniency of women." The translationAin attempting to capture Lyotard's self-consciously "pomo" styleAveers between triteness ("rubbed shoulders"; "beaten track"; "happy camper") and opacity ("ubuesque"; "acephalous"; "paraph"). While Lyotard's disciples may enjoy his gambols, those seeking a straightforward introduction to the subject will be better served by Curtis Cate's more workmanlikeAand balancedAAndr? Malraux (Forecasts, Jan. 27, 1997).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The highest honor bestowed on Andr? Malraux was, arguably, the transfer of his remains to the Pantheon, France's famous place of honor, in November 1996 amid a solemn ceremony. That belated recognition is significant in that it shows how far an individual of humble origins had come to emerge as his nation's cultural icon. The celebrated French writer, art critic, political activist, and adventurer used his writings, and especially his novels, to express what became the existentialist view that people can give significance to their life through engagement and dedication to a cause. He wrote about revolution, but when needed he joined the French Resistance and fought in the Spanish Civil War. In this unconventional biography, French philosopher Lyotard does not conceal his deep affinity with, and admiration for, the famous French existentialist. The 17 chapters of the book provide not only incisive accounts of this celebrated personality but also an outstanding analysis of his life and a thoughtful reading of his work. Demonstrating that biography is an act of inference, Lyotard's book audaciously and successfully creates a new Malraux, that of the post-World War II era, symbolized by freedom of thought and renewed faith in existentialism. Highly recommended for all larger libraries and essential for those with serious literary collections.AAli Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816631069
• ISBN 13: 9780816631063
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336