Hope and André Malraux

L'Espoir (French: "The Hope") is a 1937 novel by André Malraux about the Spanish Civil War. It was translated into English and published during 1938 as "Man's Hope". The story was later adapted as a movie (considered a masterpiece by many critics) produced by Edouard Corniglion-Molinier.

During the 1930s, Malraux was active in the anti-Fascist Popular Front in France. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he joined the Republican forces, serving in, and helping to organize, their small air force. His squadron, called "Espana", became something of a legend after his claims of nearly annihilating part of the Nationalist army at Medellín. Malraux and his pilots were very well paid for their services to Republican Spain... According to Curtis Cate, his biographer, he was slightly wounded twice during efforts to stop the Falangists' takeover of Madrid, but Hugh Tomas denies this. He also toured the United States, raising funds for the Spanish Republicans.

After the war, Malraux become a strong supporter of de Gaulle, minister in various Gaullist governments, a prolific writer and an outspoken anti-communist.