Everything [in The Conquerors]—its dense and beautiful style, the keen eye of the artist, the original and daring observations—contributes to making this a novel of exceptional importance. If I speak of it at this time, it is not because the novel is filled with talent, though this is not a negligible fact, but because it is a most valuable source of political lessons. Do they stem from Malraux? No, they emerge from the story itself, unbeknown to the author, and testify against him, which does honor both to the observer and to the artist in him, but not to the revolutionary. However, we are justified in appreciating Malraux from this point of view: neither in his own name, nor, and above all, in the name of Garine his second self, is the author stingy with his judgments on the revolution.

The book is called a novel...