STORM IN SHANGHAI
By Andre Malraux
La Condition Bumaine was reviewed at length in these columns on its original publication. This excellent translation by Mr. Alastair Macdonald (Methuen, 7s. 6d.) can be whole- heartedly recommended : it should do much to win Malraux recognition in this country. La Condition Thiamine is not his best book, but it is perhaps the one best suited to English tastes. The setting is a Communist insurrection in Shanghai,
and in his descriptions of scenes of violence and emergency— notably that of the murder at the beginning of -the book- Malraux' achievement reaches its highest level. Unfortunately between these scenes the characters have a kind of idealized unreality which prevents the book from making any sustained effect. The "wiring" fails to fulfil its function, and the book remains a set of episodes without the unity of a novel.
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