He was appointed by President Charles de Gaulle as information minister —46 and subsequently as France's first cultural affairs minister during de Gaulle's presidency — His parents separated in and eventually divorced. There are suggestions that Malraux's paternal grandfather committed suicide in The recent biographer Olivier Todd, who published a book on Malraux in , suggests that he had Tourette syndrome , although that has not been confirmed.
Malraux's first published work, an article entitled "The Origins of Cubist Poetry", appeared in Florent Fels ' magazine Action in Malraux and his first wife separated in but did not divorce until His daughter from this marriage, Florence b. Lawrence , aka "Lawrence of Arabia", has a reputation in France as the man who was supposedly responsible for France's troubles in Syria in the s.
An exception was Malraux who regarded Lawrence as a role model, the intellectual-cum-man-of-action and the romantic, enigmatic hero. Angkor Yasodharapura was "the world's largest urban settlement" in the 11th and 12th centuries supported by an elaborate network of canals and roads across mainland Southeast Asia before decaying and falling into the jungle. Upon reaching Cambodia, Malraux, Clara and friend Louis Chevasson undertook an expedition into unexplored areas of the former imperial settlements in search of hidden temples, hoping to find artifacts and items that could be sold to art collectors and museums.
At about the same time archaeologists, with the approval of the French government, were removing large numbers of items from Angkor - many of which are now housed in the Guimet Museum in Paris.
On his return, Malraux was arrested and charged by French colonial authorities for removing a bas-relief from the exquisite Banteay Srei temple. Although he was guilty, his arrest and imprisonment were deemed inappropriate — for the crime was of no consequence.
