Romain Rolland's Jean-Christophe

ROMAIN ROLLAND’S JEAN-CHRISTOPHE

V. V. RAMANA MURTI
Reader in Political Science, University of Rajasthan

I

Literary taste is of such a changing nature that it is difficult to decide the place of Jean-Christophe inthe current literature. I is doubtful if the contemporary generation can fully appreciate what this ten-volume novel of Romain Rolland meant to the world when it was first published in 1912.

Jean-Christophe was first imported into India by Rabindranath Tagore who became a valued friend of Romain Rolland.¹ Many a nationalist in the Gandhian era found inspiration in the idealistic character of Jean-Christophe. Raja Rao, author of The Serpent And The Rope came under the spell of Rolland while he was in France as a student. He met Romain Rolland, and confessed to him that Jean-Christophe was hisBible. ²

One of its famous readers in England is Miss Madeleine Slade (Mira Behn) who owes to Romain Rolland the fateful change in the journey of her life from Beethoven to Gandhi.³ Louis Fischer regards Jean-Christophe as “a literary masterpiece of the twentieth century.”⁴ Stefan Zweig, Peguy, Jouve and Maxim Gorki had all been profoundly influenced by “Jean-Christophe.”

The author of this celebrated work nurtured his creative urge under unusual circumstances. He refused to employ his‘muse’ for anything except the highest purpose of art. Neither fashion nor success ever counted with him. The prevailing taste in the literature of his times dictated the naturalistic novel in which Maupassant and Zola excelled. But Rolland disregarded it against many odds.

The problem in Rolland’s view was not confined to literature alone. Corruption and decadence were dominating all aspects of life. It was everywhere the cult of ‘success,’ against which Rolland waged a heroic combat.

The history of Jean-Christophe has its origins here. In a preface entitled, “Aux Amis de Jean-Christophe”(“To the friends of Christophe”) Rolland wrote in January 1909: “I was isolated: like so many others in France I was stifling in a world morally inimical to me. I wanted air: I wanted to react against an unhealthy civilization, against ideas corrupted by a sham elite: I wanted to say to them: ‘You lie.’ You do not represent France. To do so I needed a hero with a pure heart and unclouded vision.”⁵ Rolland devoted a decade from 1902 to 1912, to the writing of Jean-Christophe. It was preceded by a period of “apprenticeship” (Lahrjahre) beginning from 1893. The idea of a novel based upon the life of a heroic and suffering soul dawned upon his mind when he was in Rome as a young student. It was during these wander years (Wanderjahre) that Rolland was inspired by this idea. His association with Malwida von Meysenburg only strengthened his conviction.

During those years when Rolland wrote his Jean-Christophe, he confessed that it was “the hardest time” for him. ⁶ “I was alone” he repeated. He “did not belong to any group.” And the whole novel was first published during a period of ten years in a fortnightly review, the Cahiers de la Quinzaine. It was founded by Rolland along with Peguy to promote the cause of literature. This review like Gandhi’s Young India and Harijanhad no profit-motive. It was organized with a missionary zeal.

II

The central problem of Jean-Christophe is suffering. It is inherent in the ideal character that Rolland portrays. The novel begins and ends with the life-story of Jean-Christophe Krafft, a German musician in the classical tradition. His character is usually identified with Beethoven, whose influence on Rolland is universally aknowledged. His biography of Beethoven was also written at the same time when he was working on the first volume of Jean-Christophe. It unfolds the ancestry of Jean-Christophe Krafft in the Rhineland, his father, Jean Melchoir, and his grand-father, Jean Michel. Both of them belong to a family of musicians, but do not attain worldly success. Jean-Christophe’s mother, Louisa is the curse of his father, and the remorse of his grand-father. It is anything but a happy home. But the instinct of music in Jean-Christophe is developed at an early age. His creative genius shows great promise. As he grows in the art of music, Jean-Christophe at times resembles Friendemann Bach (son of Johann Sebastian Bach), and Mozart. When Jean-Christophe subsequently leaves Germany and becomes an axile in Paris, his portrait appears to be closer to Wagner’s. He also reveals the traits of great masters of music like Gluck, Handel and Schubert. Jean-Christophe is indeed a synthesis of the several great musicians.

Rolland’s choice of a musician as his hero in the novel is only natural in view of his deepest attachment to music. He was initiated by his mother into the musical traditions. Rolland also chose music as his academic discipline. He took the highest degrees in the subject from Ecole Normale Superieure. But music was not merely of professional interest to Rolland.

His whole life was permeated by the spirit of music. Jean-Christophe is full of many moving passages in praise of music. Rolland writes at one place in the novel: “Music, thou hast rocked my sorrow-laden soul; music, thou hast made me firm in strength, calm and joyous, my love and my treasure.”⁷ That Jean-Christophe, the principal character in the novel, as a musician is surprising not in the least.

What is more significant is the fact that Rolland’s hero is a German musician. That Romain Rolland, a Frenchman should choose a German for his hero was most unusual in the context of the recurring rivalry between France and Germany. But Rolland’s choice was deliberate. It would only vindicate the true spirit of his universalism. Art has no geographical frontiers.

The life breath of Rolland’s hero is struggle. For Rolland, this is the eternal law of a true artist. Jean-Christophe is constantly in conflict with the world which seems to stifle his conscience and his creativity. For this reason, he finds himself always fighting against untruth. Rolland’s novel has no plot beyond the series of such struggles in the life of Jean-Christophe. Early in life Jean-Christophe loses his father and grandfather under pathetic conditions. He has to earn a living. His proficiency in music provides him with an opportunity, but he has to serve the Duke for this purpose. Jean-Christophe cannot succeed in the Court any more than Beethoven did in his time. He realizes that under such conditions the purity of art is the ultimate casualty.

Jean-Christophe’s education takes him to the great school of life. His encounter with the woman is an integral part of his living. She is ever present in all situations in life from the beginning to the end. Frau Josepha Von Keirch, Minna, Amalia, Rosa, Sabine, Ada, Myrrha, Judith, Corinne, Lili Reinhart, Lorchen, Sidonie, Colette, Madame Arnaud, Philomela, Anna, and Grazia–this panorama of women is symbolic of The Eternal-Feminine (Das Ewig-Weibliche) of Goethe. Each of them leads Jean-Chritophe to the path of perfection, reminiscent of Goethe’s last word in Faust, “Lures to perfection” (Zieht uns hinan). The highest revelation of this truth comes to Jean-Christophe when his destiny brings him close to Antoinette.

The volume, “Antoinette” is the most moving part of the novel. In describing the fate of her family, the Jeannins, Rolland portrays a typical family tradition of the French social order after the Revolution of 1789. It is through a chance meeting that Jean-Christophe discovers Antoinette; and through Antoinette, Jean-Christophe discovers (or rediscovers?) his only friend in life, Oliver, her brother. Jean-Christophe’s humane spirit is always searching for friendship, but his experience, somehow denies it to him. Oliver and Antoinette together reveal the real France to Jean-Christophe. Rolland draws the character of Antoinette on the celebrated sister of Earnest Renan, Henriette. The old Renan, who dedicated his immortal Vie de Jesus (“The Life of Jesus”) to his sister Henriette, was known to the young Rolland.

Jean Christophe’s character is deeply interwoven with Oliver’s in the novel. Oliver is the pure idealist, and an artist. His struggles in the vocation of creative art are similar to Jean-Christophe’s. His independence is not forgiven by the contemporary French society. In describing Oliver, Rolland has perhaps revealed his better self. Oliver’s greatest service to Jean Christophe, his friend from Germany, is to help him in appreciating the enduring character of the French people. Oliver is Jean-Christophe’s virgil who guides him in his inquisitive journey through France.

Before leaving finally his country, Germany, Jean-Christophe is involved in a grave situation in his town when the much-respected militarists of the army create an awful scene. Germany becomes too small for his free spirit. But a final resolution for leaving his home by Jean-Christophe requires the approval of his aging and lonely mother. Jean-Christophe goes through the ordeal of making a decision. But what precipitates the momentous resolveis Jean-Christophe’s chance meeting withthe German soldiers in his native town. He is mortified to see that there is no resistance to the unashamed demonstration of militarism, Jean-Christophe does not remain silent. That is alien to his very nature. He actively intervenes, opposes the soldiers unaided, and fearlessly resists the force. It is decided by the authorities that he must be arrested. Then Jean-Christophe decides to revolt against authoritarianism. He is a rebel before he leaves his fatherland.

As soon as Jean-Christophe arrives in Paris, he comes across its chief characteristic, summed up in “Disorder in order.” Jean-Christophe’s view of France is as critical as that of Germany. Both the countries are analysed from a searching perspective. It reveals the internal as well as the external aspects of the two nations.

Rolland’s hero is constantly in search of the highest, the purest, the greatest. Jean-Christophe is always seeking, for the true, for the good, for the beautiful (Satyam, sivam, sundaram, in the language of the Indian tradition). He at once rejects all that is not true; and what is true to him includes all that is good and beautiful.

Jean-Christophe’s exile in France is portrayed by Rolland with an unmistakable anguish. Rolland has no illusionsabout his France which has disowned him for his universalism. Jean-Christophe watches with despair the hypocrisy of literary agencies, the exploitation of literature, the degeneration of taste in music, the degradation of the theatre. Rolland knew all of them only too well, and in his early life, he suffered the bitter fate for trying to reform them. The hard struggles he waged in his own life were now transported into the portrait of “Jean-Christophe in Paris” by Rolland. The depth of Rolland’s anguish could be best known by the title Rolland gave to Paris, namely The Market Place.

The better part of Paris is slowly revealed to Jean-Christophe through the humane friendship with Oliver. It is only by living with the simple and true people of France that Jean-Christophe comes to know the greatness of the French character. The volumes “The House”, “Love and Friendship”, succeeding “Antoinette” are devoted for this aim. The story of Jean-Christophe is continued in the next volume “The Burning Bush,” and culminated in the last one “The New Dawn”. The life-mission of Jean-Christophe as a creative musician ultimately prevails. His achievement as an artist is gratefully acknowledged. He becomes a true precursor in his life.

As Romain Rolland takes his readers along with the God-ward journey of Jean-Christophe, they come across many a memorable character. And they appear at moments of destiny in the hero’s life. The coming of uncle Gottfried into the world Jean-Christophe is a decisive event. Gottfried radiates a kindliness and wisdom when they are most needed by Jean-Christophe, Jean-Christophe’s meeting the old Schulz is no less fateful. He is a specimen of the German academic tradition in its best and purest elements. Rolland’s maternal grandfather, Edme Courot, to whom Rolland owed so much, lives again in the character of Schulz. Jean-Christophe is indebted to Madame Arnaud and Grazia, the unusual women he meets. The character of Emmanuel symbolic of the progressive revolutionary of Romain Rolland’s conception. His portrait resembles Rolland’s friend and colleague, Peguy whose biography Rolland wrote in the shadow of the World War II from 1942 to 1944.

Rolland dedicates his Jean-Christophe to “The Free Spirits of all Nations–who suffer, who fight and who will conquer.” As the novel comes to a close, the character of Jean-Christophe is seen to embody the truth of this very ideal. It can justly be claimed of Jean-Christophe that he suffers, that he fights and that he conquers. He is a “victor” because he is the “vanquished.” It is his unique testimony that prevails in the end; and that is his victory. Jean-Christophe becomes the free spirit of Rolland’s world view.

III

Jean-Christophe is notable for the extensive use of symbolism. In the very beginning we have the scene of a river. “From behind the house” Rolland writes “rises the murmuring of the river.” ⁸ The idea of life as a river comes to Romain Rolland naturally. In a preface to the study of Ramakrishna, Rolland observes: “I belong to a land of rivers. I love them as if they were living creatures,” ⁹ Such is Rolland’s profound attachment to the river. The picture of du fleuve (‘the river’) is a familiar one in Jean-Christophe. In the last volume, “The Burning Bush,” depicting one of the tense scenes in the hero’s life, Rolland quotes the unknown voice (or the inner voice?) to remark that “the river of life is red with” His “blood.”¹⁰

Music is another example of symbolism. The subject of musical criticism is not confined to a single place or volume in Rolland’s book. All the ten-volumes of Jean-Christophe are filled with the everlasting subject of music. The hero of the novel is a musician, and its story centres round the musician’s life. Rolland writes of music with the warmth of a poet. Rolland addresses to music these words in his novel: “Music, thou virgin mother, who in thy immaculate womb bearest the fruit of all passions, who in the lake of thy eyes...enfoldest good and evil, thou art beyond evil, thou art beyond good; he that taketh refuge with thee is raised above the passing of time.” ¹¹ Music is an eternal symphony for Romain Rolland.

What is the message of Romain Rolland’s Jean-Christophe? An answer is possibly given in the many passages of philosophic reflection that abound in the novel. In fact, a common criticism of Jean-Christophe is that the book errs on the side of excessive philosophising. While the philosophy in Jean-Christophe cannot be disowned, it may be remembered that a similar charge is usually levelled against great classics like Les Miserables and War and Peace. Any book, that has a lasting message, cannot avoid raising ultimate questions of life and answering them in the course of the artistic creation.

The message of Jean-Christophe is suggested in one of the dramatic scenes in the concluding last of the hero’s life in the volume “The Burning Bush.” He is utterly exhausted in spirit. His life seems to be nearing its end. Jean-Christophe suddenly finds himself possessed by a revelation. It appears to him as a “living God” and “The resurrection.” A dialogue between Jean-Christophe and the Creator is conceived by Romain Rolland. All the questions of Jean-Christophe are finally answered by Him.

Rolland’s teaching in Jean-Christophe, echoes also the immortal spirit of the Gita in a certain respect. Jean-Christophe argues with his friend that the essence of life consists in action. He tells Oliver: “Only action is living, even when it brings death.” ¹² Oliver retorts that this is an obsession with the voice of the past. Describing the incident in detail, Rolland adds that Oliver quotes from the Gita.

“Arise, and fight with a resolute heart setting no store by pleasure or pain, or gain or loss, or victory or defeat, fight with all they fight...” ¹³

Jean-Christophe’s reaction to Oliver’s citing the Gita is noteworthy. This is the supreme secret of the Creator; and the ceaseless activity of the world is explained by Him through the first and the last cause. It is the universal nature of Rolland’s art that it makes the teaching of the Gita its own. Jean-Christophe is only the beginning, and not the end, of Romain Rolland’s mission of breaking the barriers between the East and the West.

In the preface to the last volume of Jean-Christophe, Romain Rolland bids farewell to his readers. Rolland writes in that connection: “For myself, I bid the soul that was mine farewell...Life is a succession of deaths and resurrections. We must die, Christophe, to be born again.” ¹⁴Rolland’s concept of life as an alternate movement between death and resurrection is as deeply philosophical as it is universal. It belongs to the East as well as to the West.

The Last Phase of Jean-Christophe’s life is symbolically treated by Romain Rolland. His end is nearing, and he knows it. He is “engaged in dialogues with himself.’ ¹⁵ He is able thereby to recreate his whole past life in a quick succession of images. All his companions, one after another, are before him.

Rolland describes the end with a feeling of reverence. Jean-Christophe enters the gates of the Timeless. He exclaims: “Lord, art Thou not displeased with Thy servant? I have done so little. I have struggled. I have suffered. Some day I shall be born again for a new fight.” ¹⁶ Jean-Christophe is answered: “Thou shalt be born again.”

At the end of the novel, Rolland relates the famous legend of Saint Christopher. After crossing the river, Saint Christophe asks the child whom he is carrying. “Child, who are thou?” And the child answers: “I am the day soon to be born again.”¹⁷

IV

Romain Rolland’s Jean-Christophe is the novelof a generation. In the preface to the last volume, Rolland observes: “I have written the tragedy of a generation which is nearing its end. I have sought to conceal neither its vices nor its virtues, its profound sadness, its heroic efforts, the burden of the whole world, the reconstruction of the world’s morality, its aesthetic principles, its faith, the forging of a new humanity. Such we have been.” ¹⁸ The novel has the dimensions of an epic, as it deals with an epoch.

In the literature ofthe world Jean-Christophe figures in the class of War and Peace and Les Miserables. Rolland was an ardent disciple of Leo Tolstoy. He corresponded with Tolstoy as a young man, and Tolstoy’s reply profoundly influenced Rolland. Jean- Christophe was written by Rolland on a Tolstoyan scale. It has an affinity with War and Peace in its searching scrutiny of life, its reflections on human destiny. No novel in recent times has absorbed the crisis of man more thoroughly than Jean-Christophe. As to Victor Hugo’s influence on Romain Rolland, we have the testimony of Rolland himself that he regarded, Hugo as “a species of French Tolstoy.” ¹⁹

No other novel or work breathes the spirit of Rolland as much as Jean-Christophe. Rolland has created in it world-view which has a relevance to all the nations and all the peoples. The main character, Jean-Christophe voices Rolland’s profound faith in man. While it is possible to mention the diverse aspects and manifold distinction of Rolland’s Jean-Christophe, it is difficult to mention its single quality that is lasting. There is something absorbing, universal and unfailing in the classic of Rolland. It is perhaps the heroicelement in Jean-Christophe that is most outstanding. Stefan Zweig, the intimate biographer of Romain Rolland, called Jean-Christophe “A Heroic Symphony.” ²⁰ It is this heroic quality of Jean-Christophe that is most memorable today.

Nothing is more urgently needed at present than a spirit of hope, of optimism, of faith. Contemporary civilization is a sad witness to despair, and degeneration which are reigning everywhere without a challenge. But their most dangerous victims are the youth of today. Rolland’s message to the youth may be recalled in this connection. In the preface to the last volume “The New Dawn” in Jean-Christophe, Romain Rolland addresses to the youth his choicest words: “You young men, you men of today, march over us, trample us under your feet, and press onward. Be ye greater and happier than we.” ²¹ Jean-Christophe is Romain Rolland’s ‘testament.’

¹ cf. Kalidas Nag “Romain Rolland and India” The Modern Review (Calcutta, February 1966) p. 114.
² Romain Rolland made an entry on Raja Rao’s visit to him in the diary he kept on India. He wrote on 8th July 1930 that Raja Rao spoke to him about Jean-Christophe “which ishis Bible  (qui est sa Bible, dit-il). See Romain Rolland, Inde. (EditionsAlbin Michel, Paris; 1960) p.280.
³ See Madeleine Slade, The Spirit’s Pilgrimage (Longmans 1960) pp. 52-53.
⁴ Louis Fischer The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (Jonathan Cape, London; 1951) p. 317.  
⁵ Romain Rolland, “Preface”, Jean-Christophe (English translation by Gilbert Cannan; The Modern Library Edition) pp. V-VI.
⁶ Romain Rolland Journey Within (Philosophical Library! New York 1947) p. 162.
⁷ Romain Rolland, Jean-Christophe (“The New Dawn”) p. 349.
⁸ Romain Rolland, Jean-Christophe, op. cit., p. 3.
⁹ Romain Rolland, The Life of Ramakrishna (Advaita Ashram, Calcutta 1960) pp. 6-7.
¹⁰ Romain Rolland, Jean-Christophe (“The Burning Bush”) p. 336.
¹¹ Ibid. (“The New Dawn”) p. 349.
¹² Romain Rolland, Jean Christophe (“The House”) p.457.
¹³ Ibid. p. 458.
¹⁴ Ibid. (“The New Dawn”) p. 348
¹⁵ Romain Rolland, Jean Christophe (“The New Dawn”) p. 495
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Ibid. p. 504.
¹⁸ Ibid. p. 348.
¹⁹ cf. Andre Maurois, Victor Hugo (Jonathan Cape, London, 1956) p.469.
²⁰ Stefan Zweig, Romain Rolland: The Man and His Work (Allen and Unwin: 1921) p. 177.
²¹ Romaln Rolland, Jean-Christophe (“The New Dawn”) p. 348