Romain Rolland: The Man and His Work

by Stefan Zweig

ROMAIN ROLLAND

ROMAIN ROLLAND
THE MAN AND HIS WORK

BY
STEFAN ZWEIG

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT
BY
EDEN and CEDAR PAUL

NEW YORK
THOMAS SELTZER
1921

Copyright, 1921, by
THOMAS SELTZER, Inc.
All rights reserved
PRINTED IN U. S. A.

Dedication

Not merely do I describe the work of a great European. Above all do I pay tribute to a personality, that of one who for me and for many others has loomed as the most impressive moral phenomenon of our age. Modelled upon his own biographies of classical figures, endeavouring to portray the greatness of an artist while never losing sight of the man or forgetting his influence upon the world of moral endeavour, conceived in this spirit, my book is likewise inspired with a sense of personal gratitude, in that, amid these days forlorn, it has been vouchsafed to me to know the miracle of so radiant an existence.

IN COMMEMORATION

of this uniqueness, I dedicate the book to those few who, in the hour of fiery trial, remained faithful to

ROMAIN ROLLAND
AND TO OUR BELOVED HOME OF
EUROPE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication		PAGE
PART ONE: BIOGRAPHICAL
[I.]	Introductory	[1]
[II.]	Early Childhood	[3]
[III.]	School Days	[8]
[IV.]	The Normal School	[12]
[V.]	A Message From Afar	[18]
[VI.]	Rome	[23]
[VII.]	The Consecration	[29]
[VIII.]	Years of Apprenticeship	[32]
[IX.]	Years of Struggle	[37]
[X.]	A Decade of Seclusion	[43]
[XI.]	A Portrait	[45]
[XII.]	Renown	[48]
[XIII.]	Rolland As the Embodiment of the European Spirit	[52]
PART TWO: EARLY WORK AS A DRAMATIST
[I.]	The Work and the Epoch	[57]
[II.]	The Will To Greatness	[63]
[III.]	The Creative Cycles	[67]
[IV.]	The Unknown Dramatic Cycle	[71]
[V.]	The Tragedies of Faith. Saint Louis, Aërt, 1895-1898	[76]
[VI.]	Saint Louis. 1894	[80]
[VII.]	Aërt, 1898	[83]
[VIII.]	Attempt To Regenerate the French Stage	[86]
[IX.]	An Appeal to the People	[90]
[X.]	The Program	[94]
[XI.]	The Creative Artist	[98]
[XII.]	The Drama of the Revolution, 1898-1902	[100]
[XIII.]	The Fourteenth of July, 1902	[103]
[XIV.]	Danton, 1900	[106]
[XV.]	The Triumph of Reason, 1899	[110]
[XVI.]	The Wolves, 1898	[113]
[XVII.]	The Call Lost in the Void	[117]
[XVIII.]	A Day Will Come, 1902	[119]
[XIX.]	The Playwright	[123]
PART THREE: THE HEROIC BIOGRAPHIES
[I.]	De Profundis	[133]
[II.]	The Heroes of Suffering	[137]
[III.]	Beethoven	[140]
[IV.]	Michelangelo	[144]
[V.]	Tolstoi	[147]
[VI.]	The Unwritten Biographies	[150]
PART FOUR: JEAN CHRISTOPHE
[I.]	Sanctus Christophorus	[157]
[II.]	Resurrection	[160]
[III.]	The Origin of the Work	[162]
[IV.]	The Work without a Formula	[166]
[V.]	Key to the Characters	[172]
[VI.]	A Heroic Symphony	[177]
[VII.]	The Enigma of Creative Work	[181]
[VIII.]	Jean Christophe	[188]
[IX.]	Olivier	[195]
[X.]	Grazia	[200]
[XI.]	Jean Christophe and his Fellow Men	[203]
[XII.]	Jean Christophe and the Nations	[207]
[XIII.]	The Picture of France	[211]
[XIV.]	The Picture of Germany	[217]
[XV.]	The Picture of Italy	[221]
[XVI.]	The Jews	[224]
[XVII.]	The Generations	[229]
[XVIII.]	Departure	[235]
PART FIVE: INTERMEZZO SCHERZO (COLAS BREUGNON)
[I.]	Taken Unawares	[241]
[II.]	The Burgundian Brother	[244]
[III.]	Gauloiseries	[249]
[IV.]	A Frustrate Message	[252]
PART SIX: THE CONSCIENCE OF EUROPE
[I.]	The Warden of the Inheritance	[257]
[II.]	Forearmed	[260]
[III.]	The Place of Refuge	[264]
[IV.]	The Service of Man	[268]
[V.]	The Tribunal of the Spirit	[271]
[VI.]	The Controversy with Gerhardt Hauptmann	[277]
[VII.]	The Correspondence with Verhaeren	[281]
[VIII.]	The European Conscience	[285]
[IX.]	The Manifestoes	[289]
[X.]	Above the Battle	[293]
[XI.]	The Campaign against Hatred	[297]
[XII.]	Opponents	[304]
[XIII.]	Friends	[311]
[XIV.]	The Letters	[317]
[XV.]	The Counselor	[320]
[XVI.]	The Solitary	[324]
[XVII.]	The Diary	[327]
[XVIII.]	The Forerunners and Empedocles	[329]
[XIX.]	Liluli	[335]
[XX.]	Clerambault	[339]
[XXI.]	The Last Appeal	[348]
[XXII.]	Declaration of the Independence of the Mind	[351]
[XXIII.]	Envoy	[355]
Bibliography		[357]
Index		[371]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[Click on any image to view it enlarged. (note from the etext producer.)]

Romain Rolland after a drawing by Granié (1909)	[Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
Romain Rolland at the Normal School	[12]
Leo Tolstoi's Letter	[20]
Rolland's Transcript of Francesco Provenzale's Aria from Lo Schiavo di sua Moglie	[34]
Rolland's Transcript of a Melody by Paul Dupin, L'Oncle Gottfried	[35]
Romain Rolland at the Time of Writing Beethoven	[142]
Romain Rolland at the Time of Writing Jean Christophe	[162]
Romain Rolland at the Time of Writing Above the Battle	[294]
Rolland's Mother	[324]
Original Manuscript of The Declaration of the Independence of the Mind	[352]

PART ONE
BIOGRAPHICAL

The surge of the Heart's energies would not break in a mist of foam, nor be subtilized into Spirit, did not the rock of Fate, from the beginning of days, stand ever silent in the way.

Hölderlin.