Malraux's first published work, an article entitled "The

Origins of Cubist Poetry", appeared in the

magazine Action in 1920. This was followed in 1921 by three
semi-surrealist tales, one of which, "Paper Moons", was
illustrated by Fernand Léger. Malraux also frequented the
Parisian artistic and literary milieux of the period, meeting
figures such as Demetrios Galanis, Max Jacob, François
Mauriac, Guy de Pourtalès, André Salmon, Jean
Cocteau, Raymond Radiguet, Florent Fels, Pascal Pia, Marcel
Arland,Edmond Jaloux, and Pierre Mac Orlan.[5] In 1922,
Malraux married Clara Goldschmidt. Malraux and his first
wife separated in 1938 but didn't divorce until 1947. His
daughter from this marriage, Florence (b. 1933), married the
filmmaker Alain Resnais.[6] By the age of twenty, Malraux
was reading the work of the German philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche who was to remain a major influence on him for
the rest of his life.[7] Malraux was especially impressed with
Nietzsche's theory of a world in continuous turmoil and his
statement "that the individual himself is still the most recent
creation" who was completely responsible for all of his
actions.[7] Most of all, Malraux embraced Nietzsche's theory
of the Übermensch, the heroic, exalted man who would
create great works of art and whose will would allow him to
triumph over anything.[8]

The British Colonel T. E. Lawrence, aka "Lawrence of Arabia",

holds a sinister reputation in France as the man who was
supposedly responsible for France's troubles in Syria in the
1920s. An exception was Malraux who regarded Lawrence
as a role model, the intellectual-cum-man of action and the
romantic, enigmatic hero.[9] Malraux often admitted to
having a "certain fascination" with Lawrence, and it has
been suggested that Malraux's sudden decision to abandon
the Surrealist literary scene in Paris for adventure in the Far
East was prompted by a desire to emulate Lawrence who
began his career as an archaeologist in the Ottoman Empire
excavating the ruins of the ancient city of Carchemish in
the vilayet of Aleppo in what is now modern Syria.[10] As
Lawrence had first made his reputation in the Near East
digging up the ruins of an ancient civilization, it was only
natural that Malraux should go to the Far East to likewise
make his reputation in Asia digging up ancient ruins.
[11] Lawrence considered himself a writer first and foremost
while also presenting himself as a man of action,
the Nietzschean hero who triumphs over both the
environment and men through the force of his will, a
persona that Malraux consciously imitated.[12] Malraux often
wrote about Lawrence, whom he described admiringly as a
man with a need for "the absolute", for whom no
compromises were possible and for whom going all the way
was the only way.[13] Along the same lines, Malraux argued
that Lawrence should not be remembered mainly as a
guerrilla leader in the Arab Revolt and the British liaison
officer with the Emir Faisal, but rather as a romantic, lyrical
writer as writing was Lawrence's first passion, which also
described Malraux very well.[14] Although Malraux courted
fame through his novels, poems and essays on art in
combination with his adventures and political activism, he
was an intensely shy and private man who kept to himself,
maintaining a distance between himself and others.
[15] Malraux's reticence led his first wife Clara to later say
she barely knew him during their marriage.[15]