The Way of the Kings

One of Malraux's most exotic novels, The Way of Kings is a perfect companion to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. When Claude and Perken meet on a ship heading for Indochina, they decide to throw in their lots to form a dual expedition into the perilous jungles of Cambodia. Claude, a young Frenchman, is seeking adventure, fame, and fortune. Perken, a veteran Dutch explorer, is returning to his own little patch of Siam; appalled at the effects of age, he is aiming to recapture his former masculine pride. Facing death at every turn from the seething forest and "bestial" tribes people, they are nonetheless driven to leave their stamp on a world on the eve of its demise. Novelist, art historian, and statesman André Malraux is best known for his psychological masterpiece, Man's Fate.