THE METAMORPHOSIS OF ANDRE MALRAUX
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this he is the better able to escape death.
As
such, it is undeniable
that Malraux's putting him forth as a hero represents a retreat from
immediacy, a deepening of pessimism, an even more aristocratic and
vicarious victory for man.
Yet the progression from political hero to artist is not linear–
nor does Malraux's Gaullism represent a sharp break with his past.
The artist-.as-hero (Goya) is, at bottom, the same person as the poli–
tical-as-hero (Garine) and DeGaulle, as seen by Malraux, has the
characteristics of both. Thus, the term metamorphosis applies on many
levels: to the identity of Malraux's heroes which is the same through–
out successive transformations; to the meaning of heroism which is
the escape from death. Where this process leads is impossible to say–
although religion would be as good a guess as any.
To realize the action of this metamorphosis is not to make a
critical estimation of the value of Malraux's work, or even of the
pertinence of
his
various, and identical, heroes.
It
is to make a neces–
sary act of the understanding, a clarification of meaning, which is
the precondition to any discussion of Malraux. And this knowledge
is just beginning.
