Novel-River: "Jean-Christophe" by R. Rolland: the concept of the world and man

Krokhina Nadezhda Pavlovna Doctor of Philology Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies and Fine Arts, Shuisky Branch of the Ivanovo State University 24, Cooperativnaya str., Shuya, Ivanovo region, 155900, Russia nadin.kro@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The subject of the research is the analysis of the synthetic genre of the novel-the river in its specifics – in a polemic with a modern expanded understanding of the genre, erasing its originality. The aim of the work is also the cultural and philosophical actualization of the novel in a polemic against its traditional social interpretation ^{[3; 7; 8]}. The main research method is the structural analysis of the text, the main themes, motifs, and mythologies. In the modern broad sense, a river novel is "a sequence of five or more novels depicting the evolution of the same characters or families against the background of historical events" ^[11]. Examples include Balzac's The Human Comedy, E. Zola's Rougon-Macquarie, Martin du Gard's The Thibaut Family, and Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. But the term was first used by Romain Rolland in 1908 to characterize his lyrical epic "Jean-Christophe". B. A. Gilenson emphasized that the ten-part novel is an epic by R.Rolland is not like the usual novel cycles, such as E. Zola's "Rougon-Macquarie" or T. Mann's "Buddenbrooks"; "Jean-Christophe" in its own way preceded M. Proust's epic "In Search of Lost Time" ^{[5, p. 109]}. The story focuses on the fate of the brilliant composer, traced from birth to death. "This is a kind of intellectual and moral epic of the modern soul...," Rolland wrote about "Jean-Christophe" [cit. according to: 5, p. 108]. The idea is based on the idea of "a new form", a "musical novel", a symphony, then the image of a river appears ^{[9, p. 310]}. The idea of the novel is polemical – the life of the soul instead of the ironic intellectualism of the philosophical novel by A. France. The idea of the novel originated in the 90s of the nineteenth century and is polemical on the theme of the decline of the West. Rolland wrote: "I see signs of death, destruction, and nothingness all around me. Modern civilization is falling apart. Modern Europe is rotting like ancient Rome" [cit. according to: 1, p. 21]. The main character of the novel, on the contrary, embodies an indestructible vitality. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Rolland created a series of biographies of great people – biographies of Beethoven, Michelangelo, Leo Tolstoy. The main character of his novel becomes a similar titan of the spirit. As noted by B. A. Gilenson, the writer introduced into the biography of "Jean-Christophe" "many facts of Beethoven's biography, endowed his hero with Beethoven's character, his passion, uncompromising" ^{[5, p. 108]}. The researcher also noted that it is "wrong to approach the novel with the standards of life-likeness" ^{[6, p. 113]}. Or, as S. Jimbinov wrote, Rolland moved Beethoven's biography almost a hundred years ahead. "Of course, at the end of the nineteenth century, a figure of this magnitude was unthinkable in Imperial Germany." And although Rolland diluted the image of the protagonist with touches from the life of Richard Wagner, from a historical point of view, Jean-Christophe looks unconvincing" ^{[6, p. 6]}: this is not the logic of a realistic novel. The novel is permeated by the "romantic element", as noted by B. A. Gilenson, and, on the other hand, "the image of the main character is symbolic" ^{[5, p. 113]}. Thus, the river novel is connected with the romantic tradition and powerfully expresses the spirit of the new idealism characteristic of the era of symbolism – the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. French literature of the early twentieth century offers two versions of the river novel. Rolland's version is a novel about the flow of life. M. Proust's version is a stream-of-consciousness novel in which the world of consciousness becomes the highest and only reality. M. Proust's lyrical epic is a classic of modernism. The epic of Rolland is the final work for the New European culture. But what brings the two epics closer together is the appeal to the world of consciousness, inner, creative life and its laws, the most important of which is the understanding of this inner life as "an exit from time into eternity" ^{[4, p. 617]}. The famous associative memory of Proust's epic is drawn to this existential dimension, and this same existential dimension gives symbolism to the main character of R. Rolland's epic, who created and believed in the myth of the new man.

So, the signs of romance are rivers. (1) A stream-of-consciousness or stream-of-life novel. The mythologeme of life in its variability and unpredictability is the main mythologeme of the Romantic era. The mythologeme of life connects human life with natural rhythms and phenomena, the life of generations. In this unpredictable flow of becoming, man appears as a part of the whole. Hence the indestructible vitality of the hero Rolland. (2) Both Proust's study of consciousness and Rolland's mythologeme of life address the understanding of the unconscious origins of life and consciousness. The novel about the soul inevitably turns to the irrational beginnings of the soul. (3) This is a novel about an artist, a creative perception of the world. (4) This is a novel about the musical essence of the world, which is also the result of the era of romanticism. (5) Dreams of a new humanity give the image of the Roman river apocalyptic meanings: "And he showed me a clear river of the water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb" (Apocalypse, 22).

The first three books of the epic ("Dawn", "Morning", "Boyhood") cover the early years of Christophe. The features of the "novel of education" are particularly clear here, which, as noted by B. A. Gilenson, was Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" for Rolland ^{[5, p. 109]}. Or, as the author himself commented, the first part of this four-part symphony, dedicated to "the free souls of all nations who suffer, struggle and win," is the "awakening of feelings and hearts" in the parental home. Christophe was born on the banks of the great Rhine, and the image of the river will run through the entire novel. The first sounds for Christophe are "the sound of the river" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 13]}. In the novel, the theme of the ancestral roots that nourish a person, the endless "flow of time" is important. All the Crafts were musicians. The unconscious power growing in the hero connects him with all generations of Crafts.: "His being has no boundaries," he lived in the past centuries, and "they resurrect in him – the desires and hopes of the dead" ^{[10, vol.1, pp. 21-24]}. The mythologeme of life turns a novel into a myth novel. For creative consciousness, everything is alive.: "fire in the stove, specks of dust in a sunbeam. A room is a whole country; one day is a whole life" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 24]}. Creative consciousness lives a tenfold life. The river becomes a symbol of the free flow of life: "Christophe saw the river as a living being – mysterious, powerful ... it rushed so freely ... what a joy to be like it ... to be free!" ^{[10, vol. 1, p. 83]}. The world sounds to Christophe: "All music is for the musical soul... the whistling of the night wind and the twinkling of the stars, the chirping of birds and the rustle of leaves... everything that exists is music... all this music of living existence sounded in Christophe." Uncle Gottfried, a humble peddler and a kindred spirit in his independence, calls the hero to listen to the countless sounds of the world, to hear God's music" in the world ^{[10, vol.1, p. 98]}. The main task of the writer in the novel is to reveal the inner world of the hero, to awaken the creative soul in its independence and openness to the world. "Christophe thought how poor our music is compared to this ocean of world music" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 272]}. Christophe is driven by an "inexhaustible need to believe and love." His thoughts were with his beloved teachers, "with the geniuses who have gone forever, whose great soul is resurrected in music" ^{[10, vol.1, pp. 164, 167]}. For Rolland, Christophe is his own soul. The 5th book begins with the author's dialogue with his hero: "I am You, my soul" ^{[4, vol. 2, p. 262]}. The novel is based on the unity and dialogue of the world of the author and the hero. The author often becomes a more experienced commentator on the hero's condition: "an unhappy teenager, he knew nothing about the continuous changes taking place in a living soul, about its ability to begin a new existence" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 237]}. Rolland's hero, who is coming into life, does not know much: "He did not know that no being is free in the great stream of life" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 293]}, "He did not know that a great soul is never lonely... filled with love, it radiates love around itself" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 402]}. The second contrasting theme of the first parts of the epic is the life trials that the hero goes through, the ordeal of humiliating poverty, the death of loved ones, and love disappointments. Only music was able to express the polar feelings that the young hero experiences: "a sense of the fragility of all earthly things and intoxication with life" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 222]}. More than once, the hero goes through growth crises. But creativity saves in all trials: "There is only one happiness: to create. Only he who creates lives... to create is to kill death" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 14]}. Thus, the mythologeme of life is addressed both to the inner life of the hero and to the world music that the creative soul hears. Two leitmotifs define this awakening of creative consciousness in the hero: openness to the world, the ability to hear world music – "the voices of an invisible world orchestra" and "to dissolve into this sounding vast expanse without shores and borders" ^{[10, vol.1, pp. 272, 291]}. The second leitmotif is the God–humanity of genius, so close to the German idealism of the late 18th century: "He lived in God…God was in him." He learns the "Divine joy of creation" ^{[10, vol. 1, pp. 265, 289; vol. 2, p. 14]}. Christophe's worldview can be defined as pantheism – the unity of the Divine, natural and human: "The heavens flowed like a transparent river somewhere…The plants, trees, insects, and myriad living beings were like the sparkling tongues of the great fire of life…He didn't separate himself from everything." The mystery of unity is revealed to Christoph, connecting him with the era of early German Romanticism.: "In the tiniest and largest of all these creatures flowed the same river of life that washed him." Thus, the mythologeme of the river, the stream, is the comprehension of the mystery of the unity of life. A single "river of life" flows in everything, "there was existence everywhere – without end and without measure" ^{[10, vol.1, pp. 290-292]}. Young Christophe's dream is of a "healthy, strong, free man" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 293]}. The power of creativity overcomes the law of death: all those whom Christophe will truly love will remain with him – in him, in his memory and in the consciousness of the creator. Sabine is dying: "I'm not dead…I continue to live in you" ^{[10, vol.1, p. 334]}. The creative soul, being in the flow of life, experiences constant changes, soul changes, growth crises, from which it emerges refreshed. He "listened to thousands of voices that sounded in his soul," and it was revealed to him: "Everything is in me" ^{[10, vol. 2, pp. 8-9]}. Researchers have already noted the temporal ambiguity of the novel: the time of the main character and the specific historical time do not always coincide. Rolland sends Christophe "in search of authentic Germany," and therefore the first parts of the novel recreate the atmosphere of Germany at the end of the XVIII-beginning of the XIX century. – the era of Beethoven and Goethe [see 3, pp. 61, 97-106; 2, p. 97], which is associated with the worldview of the hero and the author's dreams of a new Weimar.

The second part of the epic is the hero's youthful rebellion (books "Riot" and "Fair on the Square"). Christophe rejects both his previous works and German "pseudo-idealism": "Even the greatest suffered from false idealism, even Wagner...Lohengrin seemed terribly false to him." But in this youthful hatred of the hero for idealism, the author is wiser: "Christophe overlooked the deep practical wisdom of the nation: building century after century a magnificent edifice of idealism, it put an obstacle to its wild instincts" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 24, 27]}. Rebelling against German idealism, the hero rebelled against the imperfection of his own music: he still did not know how to accurately express his thoughts, combining sincerity with "grandiloquence" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 29]}. Intoxication with his own power leads to rebellion against renowned masters, he stunned fellow musicians with his judgments about art. Shakespeare and Beethoven remain the authorities. The riot leads to harassment and a scandalous performance of his symphony. But invariably, Christophe is saved by his deep unity with the forces of life.: "All the beauty, joy, and charm of Life embraced him…He fell to the ground in ecstasy. He embraced Life. "You're in me! You're mine.…Suffering also means living" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 137]}.

Christophe suffocates in the stuffy atmosphere of a provincial town. He goes to the famous composer Hassler, who has essentially betrayed his talent in an atmosphere of decadent artificiality and passive enjoyment of life. But a genius cannot be alone, and Christophe is saved by the lively sympathy of old man Schultz, one of his unknown friends. Comprehensively educated, accustomed to thinking broadly, Schultz represents real German idealism in the novel: "According to his views, he belonged to Herder's contemporaries, the "citizens of the world" of the late 18th century." Christophe's writings became a source of light for him: "Schultz felt himself being reborn in the young soul of an unknown friend" ^{[10, vol. 2, pp. 181, 185]}.

Joining life is ultimately the acquisition of its wisdom, the wisdom of German idealism is revealed by the author himself. The hero reveals to himself the wisdom of Uncle Gottfried's soul: "to surrender to the flow of life, accept it and love," his soul comprehended the "mysterious essence of life." He carried "the tranquility of nature, reconciliation with nature. The same grace-giving power emanated from him as from fields and forests" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 215]}. Christophe will find this peace as a result of his long journey. In the meantime, "Christophe has understood the greatness of German idealism... this faith, which creates its own world separate from reality... has its own beauty," but the young Christophe is more attracted to "the mighty breath of life" ^{[10, vol. 2, pp. 218-219]}.

20-year-old Christophe flees to Paris: "he hated the suffocating atmosphere of crude militarism" in Germany. "France is the eternal refuge of the troubled German souls" ^{[10, vol. 2, pp. 222-223]}. The cultural and philosophical theme of the dialogue between the two cultural worlds begins in a polemic with the theme of the "declining West" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 260]}. The "Fair on the Square" has the features of a "pamphlet", as noted by B. A. Gilenson ^{[5, p. 110]}. Christophe first sees "decomposition in the artistic environment." It speaks vividly about the feminine principle: "The eternally feminine has always been an uplifting principle for the best men; [it will be so for Christophe], but for ordinary people and for decadent eras, the feminine principle pulls down" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 346]}. Christophe sees the emptiness and idleness of Parisian life. Rejecting the Parisian comedy of life, Christophe draws inspiration and vitality from biblical images. But his symphonic painting about David will not be accepted and understood. In his independence and rebelliousness, Christophe also makes mistakes: he does not notice the simple-minded love of 14-year-old Grace; fate divorces him from Antoinette, whose death unites Christophe with his French friend Olivier, who opens up to him another, authentic France. "Antoinette loved him, and Olivier thought that he himself loved Antoinette in Christophe." Christophe also sees her in Olivier's gaze – their soul is united. Antoinette ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 98]}.

The river of life gives Christophe many vital meetings. The seriously ill Christophe is being cared for by a neighbor, a peasant girl Sidonia. "He didn't hate anyone anymore.…After meeting Sidonia, he began to think more about little people... meekly overcoming the hardships of life and forgot about himself." And Christophe kept repeating: "I am a sinner…I didn't have enough good feelings. I was too harsh" ^{[10, vol. 2, pp. 437, 441]}.

The third part includes the books "Antoinette", "In the house", "Girlfriends". Friends complement each other. "Olivier was the source of the vast culture of France," Christophe was imbued with the calmness of his mind. Olivier embodied the authentic France, the new idealism that nourished modern poets, musicians, and scientists ^{[10, vol. 3, pp. 118, 122]}. Olivier's novel includes a utopian theme: the desire of this "small church" to "create a religion of free humanity" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 129]}. For Rolland, culture, as noted by B.A.Gilenson, is "an international kinship of souls that must triumph over national barriers" ^{[5, p. 111]}. The utopia of the international brotherhood of creative souls is close to the ideas of G. Hesse.

At the time of his friendship with Olivier, Christophe was in full bloom and the balance of all his abilities. "The stream of music was flowing continuously…He was happy... that he could hear the beating of universal life in himself" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 204]}. He is driven by the "will to live." Friends dream of "binding all honest people with the bonds of brotherhood" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 233]} – when relations between France and Germany are straining and the breath of impending war is already in the air. It is not without Olivier's help that Christophe finally succeeds. And Christophe's soul, hardened by losses and trials, is becoming an ever-fuller river.: "all of you–Gottfried, Schultz, Sabine, Antoinette–all of you are in me." In the "divine harmony" of the world, "pain and joy, death and life merge together" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 258]}. A revolution is taking place in his creative consciousness: "it pushed its limits, became universal" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 309]}. He rejects the isolated art so characteristic of his time. "The most insignificant of us carries infinity in himself…This is the mighty stream of life that flows from one to the other.…Write about the simple life of an ordinary person" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 311]}. Any separation from the common life kills a person.: Olivier and Jacqueline's marriage is so unfortunate. "The selfishness of love created an emptiness around them," "when there is no other goal in life except selfish happiness, life soon becomes aimless." This is the life wisdom of Roman Reka: "Happiness is just one of the beats of the universal rhythm, one of the poles between which the pendulum of life swings" ^{[10, vol. 3, pp. 312, 315]}. The next challenge in Olivier's life is Jacqueline's inheritance: she is surrounded by rich and idle people, "she had no business," she was bored. Christophe, on the other hand, gets closer to the actress Francoise, "everyone was busy with their own business." She taught him to understand the theater better: "the actor's voice, rising above the great silence of many thousands of human souls, becomes their own voice." It is this "single soul" that a great artist should express. "The ideal of such an artist is the ancient ae..., who, freeing himself from his ego, is imbued with collective passions" ^{[10, vol. 3, pp. 344-345]}. Thus, Christophe's spiritual quest, rejecting the subjectivism of his time, resurrects the eternal in the past: German idealism at the end of the 18th century, the vital energy of biblical images, this "Jewish Iliad" ^{[10, vol. 2, p. 409]} and finally the image of the ancient Aed. Once again, the novel contains the sharpest criticism and rejection of decadent modernity.: "Modern Europe no longer has a common book – no poems, no prayers, no creeds that would be shared by all. Beethoven alone left a few pages of the new Gospel…Wagner tried to create... religious art that unites all people. But all the vices of the decadent music and philosophy of his time were too inherent in his great spirit..." ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 346]}. Christophe conceived a cycle of symphonies on the themes of everyday life.. where would there be a place for happiness and despair, sorrow and "a hymn of reverent love for a life that has no end" ^{[4, vol. 3, p. 347]}. He searches for eternal plots in ancient books: Joseph, Niobe. Christophe is saved from another harassment in the press by the help of a mysterious friend, which is how the presence of a female friend, Grace, enters the hero's life. Once he neglected her love, missed happiness, "but he knew that happiness existed" ^{[10, vol. 3, p. 413]}.

The fourth part of the novel includes two books, "The Burning Bush" and "The Coming Day." Like a Phoenix bird, the hero goes through new challenges. The presence of a distant female friend brings peace to Christophe's soul. After Jacqueline leaves for her lover, the friends start dating again. The novel includes another reality of the time – the theme of the labor movement: "At that time, the social issue was in fashion" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 16]}. The novel vividly shows the ambivalence of Christophe's attitude to social ideas. "Christophe mocked social utopias…He was too German to revel in the idea of revolution" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 27-28]}, but he was attracted by a powerful new trend: "He expected an artistic renaissance from the revolution." He often attends rallies, gets acquainted with the leaders of the labor movement. But Christophe was raised in the cult of freedom: "poor freedom, you are not of this world."… Even the most ardent leaders ... are bourgeois at heart ... and to the core" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 30, 41, 44]}. The people were no better than the other classes. At the same time, Christophe liked to plunge into the crowd from time to time, and composed a revolutionary song. Christophe will pay for this infatuation with the death of his friend and his direct guilt in this death. "Christophe did not understand why he got involved in the story – it was as if he was caught up in a whirlwind ... an eclipse of consciousness and will" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 93]}. The hero is going through the most severe crisis in his life. "Music has become unbearable for him," he is overcome by bouts of despair, but is saved by the "titanic power of life" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 96, 98]}. Christophe is a fugitive again, and finds shelter in Switzerland with Dr. Brown. The novel includes the theme of the irrational principle in man: either he is carried away by a revolutionary "whirlwind of madness" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 93]}, or life tests him with an insane passion for Brown's wife Anna. They are connected by music, which awakens suppressed instincts in Anna. "He was obsessed with passion," in the period of his breakdown, he was not saved by the "fire of the creative spirit" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 136]}. Christophe runs away and returns to Anna. "It was unbearable for them to live in a lie" and it was impossible for them to escape together: "the main problem is the dissimilarity of their souls. It was just as impossible for them to live together as it was for them to live apart. There was no way out" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 138-139]}. After attempting suicide, Christophe leaves for the second time and experiences the most severe crisis of his life. He turns to God: "Lord, what have I done to you? Why are you crushing me... my strength is broken." Suppressed passion does not allow you to create. "The soul has dried up" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 160-163]}. He did everything to survive, and he remembered Olivier's son. And Christophe is resurrected.: "It's like a living God broke into his empty soul." A new soul awakens in him, "he was again captured by the creative power spread in the world" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 172-175]}.

"Christophe came out of this ordeal broken, scorched, aged 10 years, but he came out, saved himself... by approaching God" – Christophe finds humility before an unknown God and peace of mind. "He understood the vanity of his pride..." ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 178]}. The ninth book is the most disastrous in the life of the hero, who overcomes his breakdown and continues his journey again. It is not for nothing that the biblical image of the "Burning Bush" appears at the end of the book.

The hero is approaching the end of his life. The tenth book begins with an appeal to music, in which the author's voice and his soul – his hero - merge: "Life passes. Body and soul are drying up like a stream…Everything in the world dies and is reborn. Only you, Music, are not eternal, you alone are immortal." One who is attached to it acquires immortality. The last book begins with this hymn to music, which is "out of the world" and "deep as a soul" ^{[4, vol. 4, p. 184]}, because Christophe's life now consists of his works. Music overwhelms his soul and makes him inaccessible to the mundane hustle and bustle. Christophe won, and his name was recognized. "Only a few people had access to Christophe's latest bold creations. He owed his fame to his early works" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 186]}. Christophe returned to Switzerland, where he regained his strength, and the "mighty democratic spirit" of Switzerland is close to him. A new chapter of his life begins: he meets Gracia, who has lost her husband and has two children – a daughter and a son. "She was shocked to see the humbled heart of this man, whom she had previously known to be proud and unbridled" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 192]}. Grazia offers Christophe friendship: "We are too different."…I'm tired…I faded away" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 210]}. In this friendship, Christophe learns the fusion of souls and is enriched by an Italian sense of proportion. Once again, the theme of modernity, so alien to Christophe, sounds: "He stood outside the art of his time," the world was heading "towards an age of strength ..., firm power and brutal discipline," "The new militant generation despised idealistic dreamers" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 236, 245, 297]}. The happy harbor of life is not for such passionate natures as Christophe. Grace's son hated Christophe and did everything to separate them, although these diabolical efforts ended with his real nervous illness and death. Soon after her son, Grace also dies. "Now he is no longer available to the world of sorrow…He was free. The fight is over. He reached the point where sorrow becomes power" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 308-309]}. The most profound works of Christophe belong to this period. In his new symphony, he combines "the wise thought of Germany, the passionate melody of Italy, the lively mind of France" – this pathos of unity of the most important mental traditions of Europe permeates the entire novel. And in modern times, the "harbingers of the great war of nations" are growing. "Even the most peace-loving did not abandon the idea of the inevitability of war…Reason has lost its power" ^{[10, vol. 4, pp. 310-311]}. Europe was entering an era of historical madness: everyone was possessed by the "plague of national pride", dreams of military glory and victories. Christophe's passionate art, on the other hand, aspired to unity.: "We are two wings of the West" – France and Germany. The efforts of his genius were unconsciously aimed at maintaining the balance of these two mighty wings." He sought to combine "the Germanic fantasy and the clear clarity of the Latin mind." That is why Rolland makes his hero a native of the Rhineland, where "both civilizations merge into a single stream" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 314]}.

Thus, the river novel is synthetic in genre.: Starting as a myth novel, moving on to a utopian novel, it eventually becomes a warning novel and an alternate history novel. Rolland's hero comes to the conclusion: "Only creation is real" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 317]}, and Christophe's creations are universal. The religion of creativity brings the novel closer to the philosophical ideas of the twentieth century: "Creative Impulse" by A.Bergson, "Philosophy of Creativity" by N.A.Berdyaev. In his last moments, "his whole life, like a full-flowing Rhine, flashes before his eyes" ^{[10, vol. 4, p. 343]}. And the endless stream of life that runs through the entire novel turns out to be truly real. The main thing in the hero's life is his vital energy, creative impulse, and passion, which drives great people and is the irrational driving force of history. The hope of this passionate beginning, described in the twentieth century by L.N.Gumilev, fills Rolland's novel with the greatest vitality.