New-York tribune., 1910-12-25

Of the masses. Jean-Christophe must
elders. The untoward childhood Of
genius has been dealt with ere now IL.
fiction IN a far briefer. a selective, syn
thetic way to equally good purpose, and,
be it said, with stronger effect. NJ. Rol-
lands infinite detail is Of social value
per sc, its artistic bearing upon his story
as a whole, whatever its ultimate length,
is inconsiderable. One forgets most Of
it once he gets into the fourth book,
Revolt" as genius itself in It's period Of
real struggle for its own must forget its
childish hardships in the retrospect as
unimportant.
Here one takes issue with the trans
later. who asserts that ''every phase Of
the book is pregnant with the next
phase" Not SO N. ROLAND himself:
AS through life we change our bodies,
SO also do we change our souls; and the
metamorphosis does not always take place
slowly over many days: there are times
OF crisis when the whole is suddenly re-
newed. The adult changes his soul. The
soul that is cast off dies. In those hours
of anguish we think that all is at end.
And the whole thing begins again. A life
dies. Another life has already come into
being.
Thus 1t is with jean -Christophe In the
third book. Youth" All that was his
boyhood dies, all but the spark of genius,
and even that glows but dimly among
the shadows Of doubt and wonder and
fear and timid aspiration, before the
great, bewildering revelation Of Adde'S
cence. Jean-C -Christophe has his first
love-affair, his first disillusion, but he
is set apart and emerges. It is not till
here that NJ. Rolland's hero really comes
to meaningful life for the reader. For
him. as for n-Christophe. the boy
dies; he, too, forgets most Of what has
gone before. though he may return to 1t
again for its own, its social meaning.
The fourth book reveals a remarkable
knowledge Of German life and character
and temperament on the part Of the
author Jean -Christophe begins to COM
pose, and in his music wages war upon
the German lie." which is sentiment
tality. He finds 1t IN Wagner as in
Mendelssohn, false, blatant, hypocritical.
His career at its outset is that of an
ultra-modern, a revolutionary in art be-
set Dy lIlo NIdlICG, llIc pSlSttullOIl lIjdl
drove Wagner into exile. He is young,
immature, aggressive. defiant the author
does not spare him, but he has in him
the root Of the matter. It is not his
musical opponents who drive him TO
flight, however, after they have reduced
him to destitution- It is arrogant Ger
man militarism that sends him to Paris
to discover the French lie" for each
nation has its lie according to the
author. lie adapted to the mind Of the
race; Its religion, its morality, its
states. fits poets. its artists must all be
presented to It swathed in lies" jean
Christophe has awaiting him IN Paris a
woman, an actress. whom he has met
while she was a member of q French
company touring in Germany. 1t is to
her. presumably, that he carries his
genius, and his iconoclasm IN art and
life. which Is SO manifestly NJ. Rolland's
own.
The work go far as It goes in this siza-
bic volume is an amazing performance
carried through by an exceptionally
gifted writer. It IS far less Of a new
deoarturs than it has been claimed to