Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland Book Review, Summary, & Analysis
Dive into the world of 'Jean-Christophe' by Romain Rolland with our comprehensive review, insightful summary, memorable quotes, and in-depth analysis.
Welcome to an insightful journey through the world of 'Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland - Review, Summary, & Analysis,' written by Muhiuddin Alam on the book recommendations and reviews site, ReadingAndThinking.com.
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Introduction: Jean-Christophe
This book is about the struggle between a musical genius and himself, art and society, and traces the evolution of a German musician in many artistic struggles.
The protagonist Jean-Christophe is a character full of contradictions and inconsistencies, an extremely sincere artist full of passion for life but misunderstood by the hostile world.
Christopher's life of struggle. Christophe was upright and kind and hated evil. He was born into a family of musicians on the Rhine River in Germany. He has a high talent for music and entered the music hall at a very young age.
But he was unwilling to greet the powerful with music, was persecuted by the world, and was forced to flee to France.
However, France was also corrupt and hypocritical, which disappointed him greatly. But he did not perish and fought alone. Later he was involved in the labor movement and went into exile in Switzerland.
In the ups and downs of life, he never gave up his pursuit of beautiful art and eventually became a world-class musician.
Edmund Goss called this book the noblest novel of the 20th century.
Literary history is the development history of human beings from innocence to maturity. It is a history of human minds written by literary masters in huge notes like rafters, and it is also a history of thought that carries human conscience and emotional reflection.
To read these handed-down literary masterpieces is to read the most vivid and vivid history. It is to exchange thoughts and emotions across time and space with masters. It will make generations of readers obtain spiritual nourishment and great aesthetic satisfaction.
Book: Jean-Christophe
Jean-Christophe is a novel in 10 volumes by Romain Rolland for which he received the Prix Femina in 1905 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915. It was translated into English by Gilbert Cannan. ----- Wikipedia
- Originally published: 1904
- Author: Romain Rolland
- Genres: Novel, Fiction
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| Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland |
About the Author: Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland, a master of French literature, has written a ten-volume novel "Jean-Christophe" and other works and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.
Romain Rowland was born on January 29, 1866. His father was a notary and a respected gentleman in the city. His mother was pious and dignified. Since one of her young daughters died, she was shrouded in a kind of sorrow. All of his thoughts are spent caring for his weak son and his other sister.
What Romain Rolland got from his father was the spirit and beliefs of fighters since the French Revolution, and what his mother brought him was the spirit of exploration and artistic sensibility from the Convent of Borroyal—musical, mysterious The sensitivity; the two oppose each other and complement each other.
Romain Rowland’s childhood was shrouded in the shadow of the failure of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. As a teenager, he was admitted to the Higher Normal School. Here, his talent in humanities and his love for music were expressed, and he began to dream of heartbreak for the world. The story of a pure artist-the prototype of "Jean-Christopher".
After that, he received a scholarship from the Higher Normal School and went to Rome to study for two years, in charge of collating documents and exploring history in the catalog of classics. In the past two years, what Roland has felt most is the friendship, which comes from the friendship of the seventy-year-old lady Malvida von Meissenbro.
The two have the same idealism. The difference is that the old lady’s thinking is time-tested and pure, while the young man is fierce and fanatical. From this kind of communication, Romain Roland has gained the most important knowledge of his two years of study abroad...
After his trip to Italy, Romain Roland first taught the history of music at the Higher Normal School and then taught at the University of Paris in 1903. In the rigorous academic life and writing, he found a piece of comfort.
In 1912, Romain Roland retired. In order to improve his physical condition, Roland has spent many years on holidays in Switzerland. He was in Switzerland when World War I broke out in the summer of 1914. The war split his writing, friendship, and influence in two.
For his compatriots, he was a coward and abandoned it when the motherland needed it most; however, despite these attacks, Roland continued to stay in Switzerland and do his work consistent with internationalism.
In 1919, Romain Roland returned to Paris with his mother when she was seriously ill. After the death of his mother, Roland returned to Switzerland and settled there with his father and sister from 1922 to 1938. During this period, he became interested in socialism and Eastern religions.
After that, Roland went to a small French town near his hometown, where he continued to write and was later placed under house arrest due to anti-Nazi activities, and died at home on December 30, 1944.
Romain Rolland Jean Christophe Quotes
The saint Christophe crossed the river. He walked against the current for a whole day. Now his sturdy body is standing on the water like a rock, with a delicate and heavy child on his left shoulder.
The saint Christophe leaned on an uprooted pine tree, which buckled and his back buckled. Those who watched him set off said he couldn't make it through. They mocked and laughed at him for a long time. Then night came. They are tired.
Christophe had gone so far now that he could no longer hear the shouts of those who remained on the shore. In the torrential current, he only heard the calm voice of the child,----- He grasped a strand of hair on the giant's forehead with his little hands and kept shouting in his mouth: "Let's go!"---He walked on. , With his back, eyes facing forward, always looking at the opposite bank of the black hole, the cliff slowly appeared white.
The bells in the morning rang suddenly, and the countless bells awakened all at once. It's dawn again! Behind the dark cliffs, the invisible sun rises in the golden sky. Christophe, who was about to fall, finally reached the other side. So he said to the child: "Here we are! Oh, how heavy are you! Child, who are you?" The child replied, "I am the coming day."—— Quoted from page 378
Jean-Christophe Book Summary
I read "Jean-Christophe" by Romain Rowland. I found this book with the purpose of searching for my ideals in life. After reading it, I was a little disappointed, but at the time, I was not confident in my heart.
Whether my disappointment was correct and whether it needed to be corrected. In my impression, the whole book is very wordy, procrastinated, and very educated, and I often involuntarily dissociate from the book.
The preaching in real life has long been overwhelming. Rory is talkative, and disgust is inevitable. So I understand that noble morals and good wishes do not necessarily produce good literature.
The literature at this time was counterproductive. I found that I should not blindly follow the so-called trend, the so-called famous books, and the so-called celebrities. I should make my own judgment, even if it is naive and extreme, but must be honest.
I know that I will read about human nature, the romantic and illusory true analysis, and the courage to surrender to fate and challenge; but I still feel the stormy tremors and vigilance, and at the same time, I feel hope, because I face despair squarely. People are cowardly and fragile, but I still have the opportunity to be a hero as long as I constantly extricate myself and update myself.
The same is to writing heroes, but also to make people inspiring (although the author may not have this original intention or be misunderstood). "Jean-Christophe" "How the Steel is Made", and "Gadfly", etc, are worlds apart. If I want to give a reason, I can only have this feeling. The feeling after reading is an ignorant feeling for the first lover. There is no need to explain or emphasize.
Different audiences have different perceptions of the story. Ten years ago, it was also a midsummer like this. I hid in a small room and read "Jean-Christophe", and I was strongly controlled by Romain Roland. Following his pen, it drifts like a movie lens, and follows his protagonist in different places, fighting against different people and different social environments.
The author uses his characters to express and expound his specific and calm state of mind and uses this to manipulate the reader's feelings. But I can only feel the hidden surging and passion in the dull atmosphere created by the author that people have to accept, and also feel the shadows of my own in the protagonist. Either grief, impulse, pity, or cuteness.
Book Review: Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland
It took a whole month from the beginning of reading the book "About" to the end. One month, 30 days; one book, 1.2 million words. This month, I have been in Christopher's world every minute and every moment, and I have felt the "power" of this "strong man" every moment. This month, I feel that the world is so vibrant, that all the haze in my head has been wiped out.
I remembered a sentence quoted in "The Covenant": "The day you see Christopher’s face is the day you will die without dying." This sentence appeared many times in the book- I mean the original French edition, which must have its symbolic meaning. What is the specific meaning, or do you need to slowly realize it... I think the "death by unfavorable life" here refers to spiritual death.
Christophe is a strong man, and possesses strong spiritual power, especially in his later years. He has reached a state of transcendence. What is more valuable is that he is based on society and is down-to-earth. As long as you have him in your heart, you won’t If you lose faith in life, you will never lose a good impression of life, and you will never "die".
When I was watching Christopher’s life, I was always looking for my connection with him. I found that he also had some doubts. This is the biggest motivation for me to read it tirelessly. I hope to know mine from his life. future. I read while memorizing, copied a lot of sentences and paragraphs in the book, read carefully, and grew up with Christopher.
I often have a feeling that I am Christophe- I believe that every reader will have this idea more or less, but I later found out that I am not Christophe, I and another character in the book Are exactly the same, who is he? I'll talk about it later... Everyone can find themselves in this book- this is a major experience I have read this book. Let me first talk about the most impressive aspects of this book and the most inspiring aspects for me.
See people:
My mind has been rigid for a long time, and I have basically no curiosity about new things. Since the third grade of junior high school, I have always turned a deaf ear to popular music. Since my first year of high school, I have sneered at all online games and most games and game consoles. Most of the new things are me. Basically don't know, it should be disdain to know.
Naturally, I don’t have a lot of affection for those who like new things, and I have no interest in those who chase high-end materials. I also have a headache for people who make small mistakes (but I think they are big mistakes). I knew I was a little harsh, but I stubbornly believed that I was just out of justice and they couldn't do this. This is exactly the same as Christopher, but now I am different, just like Christopher in his later years.
He said in his letter: "There are not many things that make me unhappy here. I have encountered the festival again. My acquaintances, people who have aroused me how much righteous indignation. They have not changed. But I, I have changed, and dare not be harsh on them anymore. I can’t help but want to criticize this kind of person.
At the time, I said to myself: You don’t have this right. You think you are a strong person, but what you do is even worse than these people. ——At the same time, I also figured out that there is nothing in the world that is useless. It is the most vulgar people who have their role in the tragedy. Corrupt hedonists and non-desirable immoralists have completed their termite tasks; the crumbling house has to be demolished before it can be rebuilt.
The Jews have also fulfilled their sacred mission, which is to become an alien among all other peoples and weave a web of human unity from one end of the world to the other. They overthrew the intellectual barriers among all nations for Psychic reasons that have opened up a world of freedom. The most vulgar corrupters and cynic saboteurs are destroying our belief in the past and killing our dear dead. They are also invisibly working for a sacred cause.
These International bankers have caused more or less harm to satisfy their cruel desires, but they are also involuntarily standing in line with the revolutionaries who want to bring them down, working together for the future world, and their Contributions are more practical than naive pacifists.
I look at people a lot easier now. Yesterday, a beautiful girl came to one of my personal homepages and said: "Come on, step on..." If it is the past, I will be grateful and emotional: "Step on" is the term of QQ space, and this is not QQ. Space and QQ space has been corrupted. It has too many drawbacks.
For example... Yesterday I didn’t have such discouraging pessimism at all. What I saw was a vibrant new world. Even if it is corrupted, it is just the ruins before reconstruction. Who knows whether these "corrupted" things will bring us new inspiration? I think the people I see are different, and the world I see is different—hey, this is what I said to myself when I replied to the girl!
Fraternity:
The world is different, and I love all of this even more. "There is only one kind of heroism in the world, and that is to watch this is the world and love her." Christophe finally reached an optimistic state of fraternity in his later years. Please note that this is a kind of "optimistic" fraternity, which is different from the fraternity of the person who is exactly like me in the book.
What I want to say in particular is that Christophe’s fraternity is not a general fraternity, he also has a love for his enemies, because he knows that those enemies will eventually die like everyone else (at least not hate them), but he must be defeated. They, his fraternity would be a cowardly act of inaction and unprincipled.
There is another point. I think people who love fraternity must have a preference. If Christophe had no preference, he would not have such a steady flow of power to release to everyone. His love for his mother, his love for his uncle, right The love of the old Schultz, the love of Olivier, the love of Sabina, the love of Grazia... These loves gave him great power, and no preference, where is fraternity?
Olivier:
This is exactly the same person as me. This man is a close friend of Christopher. He is a weak, deep-minded person, with idealistic ideas, but not Christophe's strength. In fact, how can these few words make it clear for such a person with rich content? The thoughts he expressed were just vomiting for me.
When I saw him, I saw him. Later, when he exchanged ideas with Christophe, I felt like I was there; when Christophe anxiously blamed me. When his kind, but discouraging pessimism fraternity, I couldn't help but smile helplessly... I, like Olivier, learned a lot from this friend. Of course, don't think Olivier is weak, in fact, Christophe has gained more from him!
love:
It’s also time to talk about love. If a person’s thoughts about the fraternity are understandable, then it’s not too common for a person to have no love. How could Christopher not have it? He had three loves in his youth, one was declared bankrupt due to the opposition of his wife’s mother (this is the same as Beethoven’s experience);
the second time the person he loved passed away early, although the two had a mutual understanding, they never confessed. This time, Christophe was heartbroken;
the third time was to fall in love with a woman who met by chance, but this woman was so profuse and had an affair with Christophe’s brother. Christophe almost collapsed after finding out and suffered three times. His love experience left him with all thoughts, almost depraved, and lost all the time...
Finally, he got rid of the troubles of love and devoted himself to work. Years later, he said jokingly: "Happy love disintegrates people's will, and failed love makes people miserable. If that's the case, why do you want love?"
Seeing this, if you haven't read the book, you are afraid to think that Lisdorf finally gave up on love, and even if you have an unforgettable experience of losing love, you may have to think about his words. Indeed, Christophe was unmarried all his life, but after all, he did not lose the most powerful force of mankind- love, otherwise, how could he be a strong man?
In fact, when Christophe said that, he immediately heard Eros's angry words: "Huh, you ungrateful thing!" So what kind of favor does love do to him? After going through the vicissitudes of life (how much suffering these four words contain, you only know when you read them!)
Christophe finally became famous all over the world, and still alone he met Grazia who once helped him. This woman once loved him deeply. Christopher, but the latter did not accept her. Grazia later married an earl, and the two were happy and loving. Grazia also used the count to help Christopher in the most difficult period.
Many years later, the count died, leaving Grazia and her children. Grazia and Christophe met unexpectedly, and the old friends met again, and the excitement can be imagined. The two people were in love with each other and communicated with each other without reservation. Love rekindled between them, but due to her son's opposition, the two could not live together in their twilight years, but they still had the best of their lives.
A period of time. What did this love bring to Christopher? "The calming influence that Christopher had on George was derived from Grazia's love. Because of this love, he felt that he was closely connected with all the young things, and he had no influence on everything in life.
The new form always embraces sympathy. No matter what makes the earth clear What kind of power, he is always with this power, even when opposed to him. "Look, my dear friend, this is the power that love brings. This power makes your life full of vitality, makes you lose love without losing your desire for love, and makes you "washed by painful tears." Can still feel the "smile rippling between heaven and earth"...
Reading notes: Jean Christophe by Romain Rolland
You have to hold a pious heart for this new day. Don't think about what will happen in one year or ten years. Just think about today. Throw away all your theories. All theories, even theories about morality, are bad, stupid, and harmful to people. Don't use violence to squeeze your life.
Let's talk about it after today. You have to hold a pious attitude every day. You have to love it, and respect it, especially not insult it and prevent it from growing and prospering. Even on a gloomy and gloomy day like today, you have to love it. You don't need to worry. You watch first. It is winter and everything is asleep. The earth will wake up in the future. You just need to be as patient as the earth. You have to be religious, you have to wait.
If you are good, everything will go well. If you can't, if you are weak, if you are not successful, you should still be happy. Because that means you can't go any further. Why do you want more hope? Why are you sad about what you can't do? One should do what he can...Als ich kann.——Quoted from Page 383
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About Muhiuddin Alam
Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.
