by Jon Lackman | 11 June 2007 | Books
In the most recent issue of Revue André Malraux Review (v. 34), Michel Lantelme reviews a 2006 essay collection edited by Jeanyves Guérin and Julien Dieudonné. Its goal, Lantelme writes, is to “rehabilitate Malraux’s art writings”:
Knowing he would be read the wrong way, Malraux himself underscored that ‘La Métamorphose des dieux is in no way a history of art.’ Nonetheless his writings are still misunderstood today …
Malraux’s art writings succeed, Dieudonné writes, insofar as they make the reader share in his experiences of the mysterious power of art, and sensitize the reader to the enigma of creation … They rely on poetic means — aphorisms, unexpected juxtapositions, ellipses …
The studies reunited here demonstrate that discussion of Malraux’s art writings is more productive than ever. Guérin and Dieudonné’s gamble succeeds because it offers not just an original and systematic re-evaluation of Malraux’s writings, but also new avenues [for research]. It’s the indispensable complement to the recent re-edition of his writings published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade.
