This is probably one of the more heavy-duty books I’ve read in a while. Originally I was suppose to read it for Justus Rosenberg’s class at Bard, but because he rambled on about his life we never got around to reading it!
The novel traces the fate of different characters, all interconnected in one way or another, during the start of the Chinese Revolution. Malraux’s characters are all very different, for one they all come from different ethnicities, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Belgian. Each character has a different meaning (or lack of) for his life and this meaning is what brings him to his fate. It would be a lengthy process, as well as a spoiler, for me to describe each man’s fate. The basic gist is this: if you have things you are willing to kill and die for, whether it be a cause, your family or friendship, your life has purpose. But if the only thing you care about is your own survival your life is quite meaningless. Of course its not so clear-cut as that, some good ones survive.
The story is filled with many thought provoking moments. However there are two that I’d like to share that stuck with me the most (these may be plot spoilers). The first is when Clappique, a Belgian, gets caught up gambling when he should be warning his friend not to go to a meeting that will surely be interrupted by General Chiang Kai-shek’s men and result in his friend’s death. Malraux describes the hypnotic power of the game, “The ball was describing wide circles, not yet alive. The watch, however, distracted Clappique’s eyes from it. He did not wear it on the top of his wrist, but underneath, where the pulse is taken. He placed his hand flat on the table and managed to concentrate on the ball. He was discovering that gambling is suicide without death: all he had to do was place his money there, to look at the ball and wait, as he could have waited after swallowing poison,” (Man’s Fate, Malraux, Vintage, p255, 1990). The watch is a reminder to Clappique of his obligation to his friend. That was the worst part, that he was very aware of his negligence. As a result, gambling was suicide with death, just not Clappique’s suicide or death; his friend eventually had to take his cyanide pill.
Another moment that had an impact on me is when Katov is in the death camp and realizes that he is to meet his end. A moment of relief and joy washes over him when he realizes that he has no wife or children who must go on without him. I guess it was the extreme opposites, a moment of joy in a death camp that made such an impact on me. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a number of things can give cause for your life or death, not just one thing is correct in defining these.
As for the writing, there are moments when it almost reads like a play. There is even a character list in the beginning (which helped). There is a lot of dialogue and some of the settings of rooms in houses or little shops seemed theatrical. However, there is a lot of philosophy going on in the thoughts of the characters that Malraux would not have been able to make accessible to an audience as he does to his readers particularly towards the 2nd half of the novel where the action is more intense and the characters have to contemplate whether they are willing to die or not.
In no way am I saying that Malraux’s writing is on the same level as Dostoyevsky’s (that’s a very high level to reach after all) but he deals with similar themes and with a much different perspective (i.e. not all that Christian bullshit which always annoyed me about Dostoyevsky). I recommend this novel to those who are interested in such heavy themes and want to read it in a completely different setting. In a sense it is refreshing.
Eliz
07/10/10
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