Man's Fate
by
“It was Ferral's experience that governments are indulgent task-masters, that they treat their favorite children, the big financial groups, with commendable leniency. But while governments are accustomed to seeing the treasury robbed, they do not like to see it robbed of all hope.”
― André Malraux, Man's Fate
Man's Fate (La Condition humaine) by André Malraux is a towering masterpiece of 20th-century existentialist philosophy and political literature. It was published in 1933 and won the coveted Prix Goncourt. The novel explores deep, timeless issues of human loneliness, dignity, and purpose against the turbulent backdrop of the 1927 Communist uprising in Shanghai.
Over the course of several days, the novel follows a varied group of revolutionaries, conspirators, and opportunists as the Shanghai uprising takes place, only to be brutally betrayed and put down by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces.
Instead of focusing only on political strategy, Malraux examines the psychological motivations of those enmeshed in historical turmoil. High-stakes killings, street battles, ideological differences with Moscow, and the catastrophic fallout from defeat are all woven throughout the story.
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