André Malraux: Évolution de la pensée et constance du mythe profond

Abstract

The first three chapters of this thesis deal with the development of André Malraux's thought in the fields of politics, culture and aesthetics. In the light of Marxist thought, the writer's work as a whole shows a conception of history as fundamentally irrational and non-progressive, governed by existential forces such as the passions of nationalism and class feeling, denounced by Julien Benda. Against History as Fate, Malraux appeals ultimately to the will to consciousness, whose chosen field of expression is art, Malraux's recourse amidst a dying Western culture. The final chapter of this thesis concerns the images that haunt Malraux's work, and sets up a model of the myth underlying the conscious thought of the writer. This 'personal myth' throws light on the writer's inner world, and on the direction his intellectual thought took. Consequently, the theological function of art in Malraux's aesthetical conception stems from his unconscious personality, which gives a profound meaning and unity to the contradictions apparent in the writer.