A Warrior as well as Idealist

申辰瑜

[Abstract]Jean Cheistiphe， the tragic genius under Roman Rollands pen， is a world-renowned image in literary world. His whole life is a miracle yet with miserable struggles and countless failures， encouraging millions of people to face the obstacles in their lives since its very first publish. Here in this paper， I would like to make an analysis of this warrior as well as idealist and see what exterior also functioned to lead to his personal tragedy.

[Key Words]Idealist； warrior； musician； tragedy； German idealism.

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. 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. The setting is today's Europe. To spell it out， the hero is Beethoven in the modern world. "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."

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.

Ive read this great work several times before， both in Chinese version and English version. Despite of that， I have to say its such a pity that I am a layman of French， otherwise I would definitely go through every single word of the original work meticulously. Well， I recalled that a famous journalist named Xiong Peiyunhad once mentioned， it was this novel that drew him to France， to the University of Paris， to continually pursue his dream and to build a fabulous world of his own thought. Just like him and many other deeply moved readers， I love it with all my heart and firmly believe that this kind of affection will last long， for the faith and belief it encompasses are so enlightening. So， this time， without any doubt， I put this book as my first choice to develop this report.

First of all， Let us have a glimpse of this book： Jean Christophe， the grand story of a German musical genius， regarded as Romain Rollands most famous work .The central character， Jean Christophe， with a valiant and uncompromising spirit， is depicted as a tireless musician searching for his true calling. J.C. was born in a small city in German， both his father and grandfather were musicians of the country. His grandfather had wished to make his son a distinguished man which he had failed to become himself， but unfortunately， his son， Melchior， had been addicted to alcohols and sank lower and lower. For several years later the resources of the home had become less and less， following on the enormously declining of fortune. It was in the midst of these gloomy times that began to shine the light which was to illuminate Jeans life： divine music！ From then the curtain of this novel has been pulled up： the whole book is about Jeans pursuit of music， his understandings of life， friendship and love. During his journey he bumped into many heart-breaking things and challenges. At the very end of the book， the circle of musicians chuckled him，the public showed no interests in his work. His confidence crumbled away. Finally he made up his mind to leave this place， leaving an opening ending to readers.endprint

After devouring this delicacy for mind， we also cant ignore the writer， Romain Rolland. He bore in a French middle-class family in the late 1800s. He was a French dramatist， novelist， essayist， art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings". I got to know that during world war I， Romain became an outspoken supporter of peace， though he was called a traitor in his homeland as a result. So to speak， Romain is a great man who advocated peace and humanitarian for his whole life time， he deserved the worlds respect！

Romain Rolland once said that Jean Christophe was not merely a character in the novel； he was part of the author himself， which showed the struggle， pursuit， desire， misery and loneliness of a real musician， an idealist. And what I have to say is classic really is classic， just like this book. It is nothing a bestseller can compare of .I fell for it the first time I read it， and every time when I look back on it， I could still learn something new. I guess that is one of the reasons why it is regarded as a great work. From this novel， I saw the greatness of German idealism， the beauty of the faith which brings about a world within the world， different from the world， like a little island in the ocean. But in vulgar souls it is a source of hypocrisy and stupidity. Maybe that can be an explanation for the tragedy， misery and loneliness those great people bearded， for instance， like Van Gogh， Zweig， Nietzsche and so forth.

Incidentally， I really love the words of the Chinese translator Fu Lei put in the preface of this books Chinese version. “The true brightness is not without any darkness， but it will never be covered by it. The true hero is not without any humble feelings， but he will never be subdued by them.” I want to share it with all the people who are still fighting， still suffering and still exploring. Id love to tell all the true warriors who are still in this imperfect world： Were not alone.

References：

[1]羅曼罗兰.约翰克利斯朵夫[M]罗倩妮译 . 北方文艺出版社，2014.

[2]罗曼罗兰. 约翰克里斯朵夫[M]傅雷译。江苏文艺出版社，2012. [3]罗曼罗兰. 死和变：罗曼罗兰读书随笔[M]郑克鲁译. 金城出版社，2011.endprint