''Jean-Christophe'' (1904‒1912) is the novel in 10 volumes by

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

for which he received the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

in 1905 and which contributed to his receiving the

Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...

in 1915. It was translated into English by

Gilbert Cannan Gilbert Eric Cannan (25 June 1884 – 30 June 1955) was a British novelist and dramatist. Early life Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, he got on badly with his family, and in 1897 he was sent to live in Oxford with the economist Edwin C ...

. The sequence tells the story of a German musical genius living in France and incorporates views on music, society, and understanding between nations.John Cruickshank, "Rolland, Romain", in Anthony Thorlby (ed.), '' The Penguin Companion to Literature 2: European Literature''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969, p. 661. The first four volumes are sometimes grouped as ''Jean-Christophe'', the next three as ''Jean-Christophe à Paris'', and the last three as ''La fin du voyage'' ("Journey's End"). #''L'Aube'' ("Dawn", 1904) #''Le Matin'' ("Morning", 1904) #''L'Adolescent'' ("Youth", 1904) #''La Révolte'' ("Revolt", 1905) #''La Foire sur la place'' ("The Marketplace", 1908) #''Antoinette'' (1908) #''Dans la maison'' ("The House", 1908) #''Les Amies'' ("Love and Friendship", 1910) #''Le Buisson ardent'' ("The Burning Bush", 1911) #''La Nouvelle Journée'' ("The New Dawn", 1912) The English translations appeared between 1911 and 1913.

Plot

The central character, Jean-Christophe Krafft, is a Frеnch musician of German extraction, a composer of genius whose life is depicted from cradle to grave. He undergoes great hardships and spiritual struggles, balancing his pride in his own talents with the necessity of earning a living and taking care of those around him. Tormented by injustices against his friends, forced to flee on several occasions as a result of his brushes with authority and his own conscience, he finally finds peace in a remote corner of Switzerland before returning in triumph to Paris a decade later.

Criticism

Although Rolland first conceived the work in Rome in the spring of 1890, he began in earnest in 1903 after publishing a biography of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. A letter of 13 September 1902 reveals his plans: :My novel is the story of a life, from birth to death. My hero is a great German musician who is forced by circumstances to leave when he is 16-18 years old, living outside of Germany in Paris, Switzerland, etc. The setting is today's Europe ..To spell it out, the hero is Beethoven in the modern world. But in his preface to ''Dans la maison'', published in 1909, Rolland denied that he was writing a novel in the traditional sense, but a "musical novel" in which emotions, not classical ''action'', dictated the course of events. "When you see a man, do you ask yourself whether he is a novel or a poem? ..''Jean-Christophe'' has always seemed to me to flow like a river; I have said as much from the first pages." This coined the term '' roman-fleuve'' (river-novel), which has since been applied to other novel sequences in the same style. Many individual tomes swerve from the story of Krafft to focus on the other characters. Rolland was an admirer of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, and, as in ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'', a very large proportion of the work is devoted to the author's thoughts on various subjects: music, art, literature, feminism, militarism, national character, and social changes in the Third Republic, largely attributed to Krafft, although Rolland denied that he shared many traits with his fictional composer. The didactic aspects of ''Jean-Christophe'' have been criticised by many readers. In his heavy use of matter-of-fact detail, Rolland followed the methods of naturalist predecessors with whom he otherwise had little in common.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Novel series French bildungsromans Novels by Romain Rolland Novels about composers Novels about music

Plot

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links