Presentation
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Interest in the writer's work has shifted over time. After Jean-Christophe, critics focused on his plays and then on Roman Rolland's political thought. Today, critics and readers alike are turning to a more intimate side of Romain Rolland. The publication of his Journal de Vézelay has highlighted the writer's stance during the Second World War, creating a complex and nuanced portrait. What became of the author of the "Lives of Illustrious Figures"?
Newspaper
Cover of the edition of the Journal de Vézelay, Bartillat, 2012
“One should not look for my true, lasting thought in them, but rather the impression of a moment. It must never be forgotten, if one studies them later, that these notes, written for myself alone, were a moral memento, the accuracy or error of which I reserved for myself to verify in a calmer period, and to correct the provisional judgments, predictions, and suspicions—and to modify or cancel the conclusions—in a calmer and more mature time. (The Inner Journey).”
From the age of sixteen, in 1882, Romain Rolland recorded his thoughts in small notebooks (117 in total), a large portion of which have been preserved and microfilmed. A third of them, covering the years of the two world wars, are deposited at the University Library of Basel; the other 78 are kept at the National Library of France.
If this journal were ever to be published in its entirety, it would comprise approximately 15,000 pages. For the period up to 1902, Rolland himself extracted numerous passages, which he grouped under the titles Notes from times past (up to 1893) and Intimate Journal, extracts (1893-1902).
Among these excerpts:
the years spent at the École normale (1886-1889) were published almost in their entirety in 1952 under the title Le Cloître de la rue d'Ulm;
the years 1889-1891 in Carnets d'Italie;
the years 1912-1913 in From Jean-Christophe to Colas Breugnon;
the years 1914-1919 in Journal of the war years;
the years 1938-1944 in Journal de Vézelay;
The collection India 1915-1943 includes the pages from Romain Rolland's diary devoted to his Indian relations.
Other fragments have also been published in various Cahiers Romain Rolland as well as in several journals.
Correspondences
Romain Rolland's signature
"From her firm and elegant writing, which soared with great regular wingbeats, like a bird sure of its way, Annette emerged." (Romain Rolland, The Enchanted Soul).
Romain Rolland placed great importance on his correspondence, which he considered a privileged means of self-discovery. A selection of his letters was collected by Marie Rolland and published by Albin Michel in the Cahiers Romain Rolland series. This correspondence constitutes a valuable source for understanding both the man and the writer.
Some correspondences take the form of veritable narratives, such as those exchanged with Louis Gillet. Others are distinguished by their regularity and intimate nature, notably those with Sofia Bertolini and Alphonse de Châteaubriant. Always careful to preserve his intellectual independence, Rolland adapts his tone and discourse to each of his interlocutors, thus revealing varied facets of his personality.
This entire correspondence reveals a complex and multifaceted man, whose diverse expressions nevertheless remain profoundly coherent.
Memoirs
Cover of the 1956 edition of the Memoirs
"Memoirs weigh and judge. Rolland shows no indulgence towards himself. It is a work of fairness. It is also a work of synthesis. Forty or fifty years later, the broad outlines emerge, the details disappear. What was a tormented youth, an often dark struggle, becomes clear and takes on meaning."
— Jacques Robichez
Romain Rolland's memoirs are complete for the period of his youth, covering the years 1866 to 1900. This first part was published in 1956, after the writer's death. The remainder of the work, the draft of which extends to 1907, has remained unpublished.
Thus, the Memoirs mainly offer a retrospective account of Rolland's formative years, while the narrative of his intellectual and literary maturity remains unfinished.
The Inner Journey
Covers of the 1942 and 1959 editions of The Inner Journey
"...a profoundly original attempt at intellectual and moral autobiography. [...] Rolland abandons himself to an Odyssean digression that naturally borrows its imagery from the world of water, the river, and the sea. The book's structure is intentionally meandering. It does not circumscribe the subject. It goes back, repeats itself, and intersects. But despite this fragmented movement, it possesses a unity: a dominant impression like those that haunt us in dreams. [...] The Voyage is the story of a liberation, of a broken circle. But the liberated soul does not lose itself. It evokes its dead, whom it will rejoin." (J. Robichez)
Published in 1942, The Inner Journey presents itself as a unique autobiographical work, less concerned with chronologically recounting a life than with exploring the inner, intellectual, and spiritual journey of its author. Through free and meditative writing, Romain Rolland pursues a reflection on himself, his past, and the meaning of his life's path.
The Inner Journey was first published in 1942. A second, expanded and revised edition appeared in 1959. In this version, the work is presented in a fragmentary form, mixing nine completed chapters with unfinished chapters, sketches and preparatory notes.
This structure testifies to the profoundly introspective nature of the work. More than a continuous autobiographical narrative, The Inner Journey appears as an exploration of Romain Rolland's inner life, where memories, reflections, meditations, and fragments of thought coexist.