The article is based on a reading of André Malraux's novels Les conquérants and La condition humaine in translation. The English translations of these novels, which are read as frequently as the originals, have expanded their author's readership and kept the historical record accessible. The translators of Malraux's novels, functioning as intermediaries, have at times endeavoured to transmit the author's acute perceptiveness, revealing the imperialist and colonialist subtexts, and exposing a post-World War II pre-existentialist reading of heroism and altruism tainted by imperialist egotism and opportunism.