What do you think?
Rate this book
The Walnut Trees of Altenburg
"One of the key texts of Malraux's work . . . [its] pages must be counted among the most haunting in all of twentieth century literature."—Victor Brombert
"The description of the gas attack on the Russian front in 1915 will never be forgotten by anyone who has read it. . . . [Malraux] writes with the precision, the certitude and the authority of an obsessed person who knows that he has found the essence of what he has been looking for."—Conor Cruise O'Brien, from the Foreword
Malraux's greatest novel, Man's Fate , gave a grim, lurid picture of human suffering. [ The Walnut Trees of Altenburg ], written by a life-long observer of violent upheaval and within the shadows of World War II, gives a calm, thoughtful vision of humanistic endeavor that can transcend the absurdity of existence. Mature readers will find this a rewarding visit to one of the most accomplished writers of our time."— Choice
"The description of the gas attack on the Russian front in 1915 will never be forgotten by anyone who has read it. . . . [Malraux] writes with the precision, the certitude and the authority of an obsessed person who knows that he has found the essence of what he has been looking for."—Conor Cruise O'Brien, from the Foreword
Malraux's greatest novel, Man's Fate , gave a grim, lurid picture of human suffering. [ The Walnut Trees of Altenburg ], written by a life-long observer of violent upheaval and within the shadows of World War II, gives a calm, thoughtful vision of humanistic endeavor that can transcend the absurdity of existence. Mature readers will find this a rewarding visit to one of the most accomplished writers of our time."— Choice
221 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
6 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
About the author
André Malraux
272 books403 followersMalraux was born in Paris during 1901, the son of Fernand-Georges Malraux and Berthe Lamy (Malraux). His parents separated during 1905 and eventually divorced. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Berthe and Adrienne Lamy in the small town of Bondy. His father, a stockbroker, committed suicide in 1930. Andre had Tourette's Syndrome during his childhood, resulting in motor and vocal tics.
At the age of 21, Malraux left for Cambodia with his new wife Clara Goldschmidt. In Cambodia, he undertook an exploratory expedition into the Cambodian jungle. On his return he was arrested by French colonial authorities for removing bas-reliefs from one of the temples he discovered. Banteay Srei (The French government itself had removed large numbers of sculptures and artifacts from already discovered sites such as Angkor Wat around this time). Malraux later incorporated the episode into his second novel La Voie Royale.
Malraux became very critical of the French colonial authorities in Indochina, and during 1925 helped to organize the Young Annam League and founded a newspaper Indochina in Chains.
On his return to France, he published The Temptation of the West (1926) which had the format of an exchange of letters between a Westerner and an Asian comparing aspects of the two cultures. This was followed by his first novel The Conquerors (1928), then by The Royal Way (1930) which was influenced by his Cambodian experience, and then by Man's Fate (La Condition Humaine). For La Condition Humaine, a novel about the 1927 failed Communist rebellion in Shanghai, written with obvious sympathy for the Communists, he won the 1933 Prix Goncourt.
During the 1930s, Malraux was active in the anti-Fascist Popular Front in France. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he joined the Republican forces in Spain, serving in, and helping to organize, their small air force. His squadron, called "España", became something of a legend after his claims of nearly annihilating part of the Nationalist army at Medellín.
According to Curtis Cate, his biographer, he was slightly wounded twice during efforts to stop the Falangists' takeover of Madrid, but the British historian Hugh Thomas denies this. He also toured the United States to raise funds for the Spanish Republicans. A novel influenced by his Spanish war experiences, Man's Hope, (L'Espoir) was published during 1938.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Malraux joined the French Army. He was captured in 1940 during the Battle of France but escaped and later joined the French Resistance. He was captured by the Gestapo during 1944 and underwent a mock execution. He later commanded the tank unit Brigade Alsace-Lorraine in defence of Strasbourg and in the attack on Stuttgart (Germany). He was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance, the Croix de Guerre. He was also awarded the British Distinguished Service Order for his work with British liaison officers in Corrèze, Dordogne and Lot, and after Dordogne had been liberated, leading a battalion of former resistance fighters to Alsace-Lorraine where they fought alongside the First Army.
During the war he worked on a long novel, The Struggle with the Angel based on the story of the Biblical Jacob. The manuscript was destroyed by the Gestapo after his capture in 1944. A surviving first part titled The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, was published after the war. He would never write another novel.
Malraux and his first wife divorced during the 1940s. His daughter from this marriage, Florence (b.1933), married the filmmaker Alain Resnais.
Malraux had two sons by his second wife Josette Clotis: Pierre-Gauthier (1940-1961) and Vincent (1943-1961). During 1944, while Malraux was fighting in Alsace, Josette died when she slipped while boarding a train. His two sons were killed during 1961 in an automobile accident.
After the war, Malraux served in a variety of government p
At the age of 21, Malraux left for Cambodia with his new wife Clara Goldschmidt. In Cambodia, he undertook an exploratory expedition into the Cambodian jungle. On his return he was arrested by French colonial authorities for removing bas-reliefs from one of the temples he discovered. Banteay Srei (The French government itself had removed large numbers of sculptures and artifacts from already discovered sites such as Angkor Wat around this time). Malraux later incorporated the episode into his second novel La Voie Royale.
Malraux became very critical of the French colonial authorities in Indochina, and during 1925 helped to organize the Young Annam League and founded a newspaper Indochina in Chains.
On his return to France, he published The Temptation of the West (1926) which had the format of an exchange of letters between a Westerner and an Asian comparing aspects of the two cultures. This was followed by his first novel The Conquerors (1928), then by The Royal Way (1930) which was influenced by his Cambodian experience, and then by Man's Fate (La Condition Humaine). For La Condition Humaine, a novel about the 1927 failed Communist rebellion in Shanghai, written with obvious sympathy for the Communists, he won the 1933 Prix Goncourt.
During the 1930s, Malraux was active in the anti-Fascist Popular Front in France. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he joined the Republican forces in Spain, serving in, and helping to organize, their small air force. His squadron, called "España", became something of a legend after his claims of nearly annihilating part of the Nationalist army at Medellín.
According to Curtis Cate, his biographer, he was slightly wounded twice during efforts to stop the Falangists' takeover of Madrid, but the British historian Hugh Thomas denies this. He also toured the United States to raise funds for the Spanish Republicans. A novel influenced by his Spanish war experiences, Man's Hope, (L'Espoir) was published during 1938.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Malraux joined the French Army. He was captured in 1940 during the Battle of France but escaped and later joined the French Resistance. He was captured by the Gestapo during 1944 and underwent a mock execution. He later commanded the tank unit Brigade Alsace-Lorraine in defence of Strasbourg and in the attack on Stuttgart (Germany). He was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance, the Croix de Guerre. He was also awarded the British Distinguished Service Order for his work with British liaison officers in Corrèze, Dordogne and Lot, and after Dordogne had been liberated, leading a battalion of former resistance fighters to Alsace-Lorraine where they fought alongside the First Army.
During the war he worked on a long novel, The Struggle with the Angel based on the story of the Biblical Jacob. The manuscript was destroyed by the Gestapo after his capture in 1944. A surviving first part titled The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, was published after the war. He would never write another novel.
Malraux and his first wife divorced during the 1940s. His daughter from this marriage, Florence (b.1933), married the filmmaker Alain Resnais.
Malraux had two sons by his second wife Josette Clotis: Pierre-Gauthier (1940-1961) and Vincent (1943-1961). During 1944, while Malraux was fighting in Alsace, Josette died when she slipped while boarding a train. His two sons were killed during 1961 in an automobile accident.
After the war, Malraux served in a variety of government p
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 25, 2023
Malraux's last novel, first published in 1943 under the title "The struggle with the angel"; then in 1948, is Les Noyers de l'Altenburg, largely autobiographical, with the extensive and lyrical writing of one of the last giants.
January 27, 2021
Andre Malraux bir Fransız, tarih içinde defalarca Almanya ile Fransa arasında el değiştiren Alsace bölgesinden. Bölgede Almanlar ve Fransızlar iç içe, bu nedenle Malraux II. Dünya Savaşı’nda Fransa ordusundayken babası I. Dünya Savaşında Almanya tarafında savaşmış.
Altenburg bu bölgedeki bir eski manastırın bulunduğu yer. I. Dünya Savaşı öncesi yazarın babasının, amcasının ve dostlarının, dönemin aydınlarının ve düşün insanlarının toplanıp tartıştıkları bir bina burası, bahçesindeki iki yaşlı ceviz ağacı da iki aziz heykeli gibi yer alıyor bu bahçede.
Bu kitap bir roman sayılır mı bilemiyorum, çünkü yazarın savaş öncesi yazmış olduğu ancak gestaponun eline geçen bir taslaktan geride kalanların toplanmasıyla oluşturulan bir anı-anlatı gibi duruyor. Kah yazar kendisi anlatıyor kah bir anlatıcı sözü devralıyor. Bu nedenle akışta ciddi kopukluklar var. Otobiyografik öğeler taşıyor. Uslup ise “Umut”tan da bildiğimiz gibi çok iyi.
Kitap II. Dünya Savaşı ile başlıyor ve onunla kapanıyor, aradaki bölümler ise I. Dünya Savaşı ve öncesine ait. Yazarın babasının Enver Paşa’nın danışmanı olması ve Jön Türkler ve Turancılık ile ilgili çok ilginç bilgiler aktarması, Altenburg’daki binada çok derin felsefi tartışmaların yapılması keyifle okuduğum bölümler oldu.
Savaş karşıtı olan bu kitap aslında savaşı yapan “insanı” sorguluyor. İnsan nedir, savaş ve yıkımın sorumlusu insan kimdir ? İnsanı anlamak için insan olmak yeterli midir ? Bazı yerler gerçek bazı yerler hayal ürünü olan olay ve kişilerle A. Malraux da bunu sorguluyor. Yazar hayal ve gerçeği harmanlamış, kurgulamış ama daha önce belirttiğim gibi eldeki orjinalden geriye kalan malzemelere ekleme yapmamış, bu nedenle bütünlük söz konusu olmuyor kitapta. Farklı bir okuma olabilir.
Altenburg bu bölgedeki bir eski manastırın bulunduğu yer. I. Dünya Savaşı öncesi yazarın babasının, amcasının ve dostlarının, dönemin aydınlarının ve düşün insanlarının toplanıp tartıştıkları bir bina burası, bahçesindeki iki yaşlı ceviz ağacı da iki aziz heykeli gibi yer alıyor bu bahçede.
Bu kitap bir roman sayılır mı bilemiyorum, çünkü yazarın savaş öncesi yazmış olduğu ancak gestaponun eline geçen bir taslaktan geride kalanların toplanmasıyla oluşturulan bir anı-anlatı gibi duruyor. Kah yazar kendisi anlatıyor kah bir anlatıcı sözü devralıyor. Bu nedenle akışta ciddi kopukluklar var. Otobiyografik öğeler taşıyor. Uslup ise “Umut”tan da bildiğimiz gibi çok iyi.
Kitap II. Dünya Savaşı ile başlıyor ve onunla kapanıyor, aradaki bölümler ise I. Dünya Savaşı ve öncesine ait. Yazarın babasının Enver Paşa’nın danışmanı olması ve Jön Türkler ve Turancılık ile ilgili çok ilginç bilgiler aktarması, Altenburg’daki binada çok derin felsefi tartışmaların yapılması keyifle okuduğum bölümler oldu.
Savaş karşıtı olan bu kitap aslında savaşı yapan “insanı” sorguluyor. İnsan nedir, savaş ve yıkımın sorumlusu insan kimdir ? İnsanı anlamak için insan olmak yeterli midir ? Bazı yerler gerçek bazı yerler hayal ürünü olan olay ve kişilerle A. Malraux da bunu sorguluyor. Yazar hayal ve gerçeği harmanlamış, kurgulamış ama daha önce belirttiğim gibi eldeki orjinalden geriye kalan malzemelere ekleme yapmamış, bu nedenle bütünlük söz konusu olmuyor kitapta. Farklı bir okuma olabilir.
May 4, 2015
Third time reading. A deeply intellectual rumination on living and death, the meaning of our existence within the vastness of the universe and the intimacy and randomness of death in war - both WWI and II. Certain sections are considered perhaps difficult, either from translation (though it feels quite good) or more likely time's diminishing effects, the book at times is literally a group discussion about the meaning of Man's existence - but the gassing of the Russians and the tensions and fears of the Tank crew caught in the ditch are powerful and illuminating. A way of thinking that I think is disappearing from our literary, perhaps even our cultural mindset. While Malraux may have been post mortem shamed - his thoughts are still powerful and important.
September 2, 2020
¨Dünya, gök ve deniz kadar basit olabilirdi¨.
Altenburg'un Ceviz Ağaçları Enver Paşa'nın ulaşılmaz hayalleri ve Nietzsche'in hezeyanlarının da başrollerde olduğu bir kitap. Malraux'nun hayatından otobiyografik anlar da taşıyan kitap bizi Birinci Dünya Savaşı öncesi Osmanlı, Birinci Dünya Savaşı Alman cephesi ve İkinci Dünya Savaşı başı Fransa'nın yenilgisine an be an atlatıyor. Her bölümde başka bir önemli tarihi ana anlatıcının babasının hayatı üzerinden şahit oluyoruz. Kitabın açılışı bir toplama kampında geçiyor. Kampta direklerden birine bakan bir kazmacı ve anlatıcı arasında şu diyalog geçiyor:
- Ben yıpransın diye bekliyorum.
-Ne?
- Her şey. Yıpransın diye bekliyorum.
¨Yıkım gelecekti, işte geldi¨. Kitabın tamamı insanın yıpranışı, tükenişi ve medeniyetlerin yıkılışı üzerine. Savaşın insana neler yaptırabildiği Alman cephesinin Rus tarafına gaz bombası attıktan sonraki Rus askerlerinin kıvranarak ölümünü izleyen ve ruhsal buhranlarla deliren Alman askerlerinde tasvir ediliyor. Çünkü Almanlar da Ruslar da aslında ¨yapraklar gibi benzeşen, yapraklar gibi birbirinden ayrılan insanlar¨ günün sonunda.
Kitabı Tahsin Yücel çevirmiş ama redaksiyonundan mıdır bilmem bugüne kadar okuduğum en kötü Tahsin Yücel çevirisi bu olabilir. Elimdeki 1984 Kuzey Yayınları baskısı. Sel Yayınları tekrardan basmış, o basımda bu hatalar olmayabilir.
Altenburg'un ceviz ağaçları altında insanın aslında ne olduğu tartışması sürerken sorulan insan gizlediği midir, yoksa başardığı mı sorularına yanıt vermek savaş varken, buhran ve açlık varken zor. İnsan hem kendisine hem de başkalarına öyle uzak ki bazen, okulda hayat ve diğerleri yani Malraux'nun deyimiyle ¨canlı karanlıklar¨ hakkında bize öğretilenler her zaman başvurulacak bir kaynak olamıyor. Zaten bu çıkmazı Malraux kendisi de şöyle özetlemiş: ¨...insanı tanımak için sanki insan olmak yetermiş gibi...¨
Altenburg'un Ceviz Ağaçları Enver Paşa'nın ulaşılmaz hayalleri ve Nietzsche'in hezeyanlarının da başrollerde olduğu bir kitap. Malraux'nun hayatından otobiyografik anlar da taşıyan kitap bizi Birinci Dünya Savaşı öncesi Osmanlı, Birinci Dünya Savaşı Alman cephesi ve İkinci Dünya Savaşı başı Fransa'nın yenilgisine an be an atlatıyor. Her bölümde başka bir önemli tarihi ana anlatıcının babasının hayatı üzerinden şahit oluyoruz. Kitabın açılışı bir toplama kampında geçiyor. Kampta direklerden birine bakan bir kazmacı ve anlatıcı arasında şu diyalog geçiyor:
- Ben yıpransın diye bekliyorum.
-Ne?
- Her şey. Yıpransın diye bekliyorum.
¨Yıkım gelecekti, işte geldi¨. Kitabın tamamı insanın yıpranışı, tükenişi ve medeniyetlerin yıkılışı üzerine. Savaşın insana neler yaptırabildiği Alman cephesinin Rus tarafına gaz bombası attıktan sonraki Rus askerlerinin kıvranarak ölümünü izleyen ve ruhsal buhranlarla deliren Alman askerlerinde tasvir ediliyor. Çünkü Almanlar da Ruslar da aslında ¨yapraklar gibi benzeşen, yapraklar gibi birbirinden ayrılan insanlar¨ günün sonunda.
Kitabı Tahsin Yücel çevirmiş ama redaksiyonundan mıdır bilmem bugüne kadar okuduğum en kötü Tahsin Yücel çevirisi bu olabilir. Elimdeki 1984 Kuzey Yayınları baskısı. Sel Yayınları tekrardan basmış, o basımda bu hatalar olmayabilir.
Altenburg'un ceviz ağaçları altında insanın aslında ne olduğu tartışması sürerken sorulan insan gizlediği midir, yoksa başardığı mı sorularına yanıt vermek savaş varken, buhran ve açlık varken zor. İnsan hem kendisine hem de başkalarına öyle uzak ki bazen, okulda hayat ve diğerleri yani Malraux'nun deyimiyle ¨canlı karanlıklar¨ hakkında bize öğretilenler her zaman başvurulacak bir kaynak olamıyor. Zaten bu çıkmazı Malraux kendisi de şöyle özetlemiş: ¨...insanı tanımak için sanki insan olmak yetermiş gibi...¨
June 24, 2023
3.5 stars. A novel that explores the tension between “What man hides” and “What man does.” In the end, they are one-in-the-same, as both are defined by a perpetual cycle of self-destruction. One could argue that the book’s structure is analogous to that cycle: imprisonment, hope, struggle, self-destruction, death, redemption. Malraux ends on redemption, but don’t let that fool you (as it certainly doesn’t fool Malraux): a cyclical nature has no end. He could have ended the book on imprisonment. Or hope. Or self-destruction. Or death. The cycle will always continue, so the end of the story is merely a way station. I rather think it was an ironic display of false hope rather than a ray of optimism.
This isn't that kind of book.
Without a doubt, the most memorable section of the novel is the "death" chapter: the gas attack on Russian soldiers in the trenches of WWI. Here is man’s evil in stark terms and on full display: killing each other, killing their environment, killing themselves.
The discussion in the middle of the novel as to the true nature of man – is he defined by his creations (i.e., art) or his destructions (i.e., everything else) – is another instance of asking the same question. The artist creates to the point of self-destruction, while the soldier practices the “art” of war. What's the difference? In either case, the primary aesthetic of man* is one of suffering.
In the end, we are left only with Pascal’s conclusion of the human condition, quoted by Malraux at the end of the novel: “Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.”
*N.B.: I use "man" here and throughout my review not as an historical sexist linguistic trope, but quite literally: men are the ones who are inflicting all the suffering.
This isn't that kind of book.
Without a doubt, the most memorable section of the novel is the "death" chapter: the gas attack on Russian soldiers in the trenches of WWI. Here is man’s evil in stark terms and on full display: killing each other, killing their environment, killing themselves.
The discussion in the middle of the novel as to the true nature of man – is he defined by his creations (i.e., art) or his destructions (i.e., everything else) – is another instance of asking the same question. The artist creates to the point of self-destruction, while the soldier practices the “art” of war. What's the difference? In either case, the primary aesthetic of man* is one of suffering.
In the end, we are left only with Pascal’s conclusion of the human condition, quoted by Malraux at the end of the novel: “Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.”
*N.B.: I use "man" here and throughout my review not as an historical sexist linguistic trope, but quite literally: men are the ones who are inflicting all the suffering.
December 15, 2016
Andre Malraux was the quintessential adventurer-intellectual of the between the World War years. Man's Hope was on 1960s high school reading lists; Man's Fate followed it for some, exploring the far reaches of the world they had come into, along with their own adventurer identities. The Royal Way, in which Malraux captured his own illicit adventureering in Cambodia for forbidden archaeological artifacts, never quite got the attention of the other two –lacking a war– but was another manifestation of his Big-Ideas Big-Adventure interests. It turns out that his model of how to be a man was T. E. Lawrence, the WW I British fighter-intellectual in the Levant.
In The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, Malraux’s last fictional work, he extends his inquiry and obsession into the nature of man, the struggle between individualism and fraternity, and “that crucial region of the soul where absolute evil hangs in balance against fraternity.” To those already familiar with Malraux’s place in time and literary lineage the linkage to his admiration of Lawrence (never named) will be somewhat clear. To those coming at him without such background, it will not occur; instead, what will be in hand will be a odd text with several stand-alone and powerful sections on the violence of war but all strangely discontinuous. For such readers, the book will seem to be a muddle, more or less interesting to me and not to you, almost by chance.
For a full review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/2016/12/1...
In The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, Malraux’s last fictional work, he extends his inquiry and obsession into the nature of man, the struggle between individualism and fraternity, and “that crucial region of the soul where absolute evil hangs in balance against fraternity.” To those already familiar with Malraux’s place in time and literary lineage the linkage to his admiration of Lawrence (never named) will be somewhat clear. To those coming at him without such background, it will not occur; instead, what will be in hand will be a odd text with several stand-alone and powerful sections on the violence of war but all strangely discontinuous. For such readers, the book will seem to be a muddle, more or less interesting to me and not to you, almost by chance.
For a full review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/2016/12/1...
November 5, 2023
"Peki, insanı tanımak dedikleri nedir? diye sorulsaydı hepsi de aynı yanıtı verirdi: Yapılanlar karşısında şaşırmayacak duruma gelmek. O kadar. Ama çok şeydir bu. Yapılanlar karşısında şaşırmayacak duruma gelmek..."
Yine kitapta geçen "Anlaşılabilir bir dünya iblisinin pençesine düşmüş şu insanlar..." tanımlamasıyla çok paralel.
Yer yer altını çizdiğim çok derinlikli olan yerler oldu. Savaşın iç acıtan halini, psikolojik ve felsefi olarak güzel aktarıyor. Fakat kitabı okuyup anlarken, akışı takip ederken zorlandığım için 3 yıldız verdim.
Yine kitapta geçen "Anlaşılabilir bir dünya iblisinin pençesine düşmüş şu insanlar..." tanımlamasıyla çok paralel.
Yer yer altını çizdiğim çok derinlikli olan yerler oldu. Savaşın iç acıtan halini, psikolojik ve felsefi olarak güzel aktarıyor. Fakat kitabı okuyup anlarken, akışı takip ederken zorlandığım için 3 yıldız verdim.
October 5, 2025
"Pisati je, ovdje, jedini način da se nastavi živjeti."
Ovaj roman je, po riječima Gaetana Picona, "predvorje hrama koji nije sagrađen", jer on, naime, nikada nije završen u cijelosti te je tek uvertira u "Borbu s anđelom" (nesuđeni Malrauxov magnum opus"). No ne valja se zamarati onim što je moglo biti jer i u ovom "prologu" ima efektnih trenutaka i snažnih antiratnih poruka za koje se Malraux oduvijek zalagao. Dio u kojima su ruski vojnici otrovani bojnim plinom te ih Njemci odnose iz rovova ima nemjerljivu težinu te se čitava egzistencija ovog djela može opravdati sa njime samim, no time bi zanemarili izvrsne filozofske rasprave u Altenburgu pri sredini romana. I tmurne drvorede oraha.
*citati
"Ako neprestano grebeš pojedinca, ne znači da ćeš konačno sresti čovjeka."
"Čovjek ne poznaje ništa bolje zemlju bajke, u koju vjeruje, nego ženu, koju voli."
Ovaj roman je, po riječima Gaetana Picona, "predvorje hrama koji nije sagrađen", jer on, naime, nikada nije završen u cijelosti te je tek uvertira u "Borbu s anđelom" (nesuđeni Malrauxov magnum opus"). No ne valja se zamarati onim što je moglo biti jer i u ovom "prologu" ima efektnih trenutaka i snažnih antiratnih poruka za koje se Malraux oduvijek zalagao. Dio u kojima su ruski vojnici otrovani bojnim plinom te ih Njemci odnose iz rovova ima nemjerljivu težinu te se čitava egzistencija ovog djela može opravdati sa njime samim, no time bi zanemarili izvrsne filozofske rasprave u Altenburgu pri sredini romana. I tmurne drvorede oraha.
*citati
"Ako neprestano grebeš pojedinca, ne znači da ćeš konačno sresti čovjeka."
"Čovjek ne poznaje ništa bolje zemlju bajke, u koju vjeruje, nego ženu, koju voli."
September 23, 2022
I got this book as a present for my 19th birthday when the wars started on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia. I haven't read it until now because I didn't know what it is about. Descriptions oftwo terrifying scenes from two different wars and the talk about oblivion make it a great antiwar book. "Ah! Neka pobeda ostane na strani onih koji budu vodili rat ne voleći ga" - Let the side fighting the war against its will win the war "jer čovek je slučajnost, a u suštini, svet je sazdan od zaborava" - because human is a haphazardness, as world's created from oblivion. The author supports the point that history will teach us nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
Bien que la forme du récit ait été abandonnée, on retrouve les éléments habituels des romans de Malraux, soit les réflexions sur l’homme et la mort, la guerre, le mysticisme.
Cependant cette lecture était assez particulière en tant que le récit est d’abord nouveau mais rapidement ce sont des extraits repris (des souvenirs de Malraux) ainsi toute la 3e partie du livre (l’attaque aux gaz de 1915) est aussi présente, parfois mot pour mot, dans Lazare. Toute la dernière partie est reprise soit de La tentation de l’Occident soit de Combat.
Bref le début est bien mais ça devient rapidement de la reformulation / répétition ce qui est bien dommage.
Cependant cette lecture était assez particulière en tant que le récit est d’abord nouveau mais rapidement ce sont des extraits repris (des souvenirs de Malraux) ainsi toute la 3e partie du livre (l’attaque aux gaz de 1915) est aussi présente, parfois mot pour mot, dans Lazare. Toute la dernière partie est reprise soit de La tentation de l’Occident soit de Combat.
Bref le début est bien mais ça devient rapidement de la reformulation / répétition ce qui est bien dommage.
July 18, 2018
"The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of the earth and the galaxy of the stars, but that in this prison we can fashion images of ourselves sufficiently powerful to deny our nothingness."
May 7, 2024
bayağı değişik bir kitap. roman desen değil deneme desen değil, ortaya karışık. zaten tam da değil, sadece gestapo'nun imha etmediği kısımları basılmış. ilk bölümde malraux'nun kaleminden enver paşa ve turancılık okumak çok eğlenceli.
July 31, 2024
De la grosse merde
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews