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{{Short description|French author (1866–1944)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Romain Rolland
| image        = Romain Rolland de face au balcon, Meurisse, 1914 retouche.jpg
| caption      = Romain Rolland, 1914
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1866|01|29|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Clamecy, Nièvre|Clamecy]], France
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1944|12|30|1866|1|29|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Vézelay]], France
| occupation   = {{flatlist|
* Dramatist
* essayist
* [[art historian]]
* novelist
* [[musicologist]]
}}
| period       = 1902–1944
| spouse       = Clothilde Bréal, m. 1892–1901; [[Marie Romain Rolland]], m. 1934–1944 
| awards       = {{awd|[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]|1915}}<!-- do not add image icons such as nobel peace, see [[:Template:Infobox writer]] -->
|signature     = Romain Rolland signature.svg
| relatives    = [[Madeleine Rolland]] (sister)
}}
'''Romain Rolland''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁɔmɛ̃ ʁɔlɑ̃|lang}}; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, [[art historian]] and [[Mysticism|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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rolland.htm |title=Romain Rolland |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924043017/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rolland.htm |archive-date=24 September 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

He was an admirer of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]], wrote a still relevant biography of Gandhi, and is also noted for his correspondence with numerous writers and thinkers across the globe including [[Maxim Gorki]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and [[Sigmund Freud]].

==Biography==
Rolland was born in [[Clamecy, Nièvre]] into a family that had both wealthy townspeople and farmers in its lineage. Writing introspectively in his ''Voyage intérieur'' (1942), he sees himself as a representative of an "antique species". He would cast these ancestors in ''Colas Breugnon'' (1919).

Accepted to the [[École normale supérieure]] in 1886, he first studied philosophy, but his independence of spirit led him to abandon that so as not to submit to the dominant ideology. He received his degree in history in 1889 and spent two years in Rome, where his encounter with [[Malwida von Meysenbug]]–who had been a friend of [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] and of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]–and his discovery of Italian masterpieces were decisive for the development of his thought. When he returned to France in 1895, he received his doctoral degree with his thesis ''Les origines du théâtre lyrique moderne. Histoire de l’opéra en Europe avant Lulli et Scarlatti'' (''The origins of modern lyric theatre. A History of Opera in Europe before Lully and Scarlatti''). For the next two decades, he taught at various lycées in Paris before directing the newly established music school of the École des Hautes Études Sociales from 1902 to 1911. In 1903 he was appointed to the first chair of music history at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], he also directed briefly in 1911 the musical section at the [[French Institute in Florence]].<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Henderson |first=Robert |title=Romain Rolland}}</ref>

His first book was published in 1902 when he was 36 years old. Through his advocacy for a 'people's theatre', he made a significant contribution towards the [[democratization]] of the theatre. As a humanist, he embraced the work of the philosophers of India ("Conversations with [[Rabindranath Tagore]]" and [[Mohandas Gandhi]]). Rolland was strongly influenced by the [[Vedanta]] philosophy of India, primarily through the works of [[Swami Vivekananda]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vedanta-newyork.org/thoughtson_rk.htm |title=Thoughts on Ramakrishna |access-date=2008-10-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904205419/http://www.vedanta-newyork.org/thoughtson_rk.htm |archive-date=4 September 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

A demanding, yet timid, young man, he did not like teaching. He was not indifferent to youth: Jean-Christophe, Olivier and their friends, the heroes of his novels, are young people. But with real-life persons, youths as well as adults, Rolland maintained only a distant relationship. He was first and foremost a writer. Assured that literature would provide him with a modest income, he resigned from the university in 1912.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} In 1920, Rolland used the phrase, "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" in a review, which [[Antonio Gramsci]] adopted from him as a formula for intellectual perseverance during hard times.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Antonini | first1 = Francesca | year = 2019 | title = Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Gramsci's Political Thought in the Last Miscellaneous Notebooks | journal = Rethinking Marxism | volume = 31 | pages = 42–57 | doi=10.1080/08935696.2019.1577616 | url = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08935696.2019.1577616}}</ref>

Romain Rolland was a lifelong pacifist. He was one of the few major French writers to retain his pacifist internationalist values; he moved to Switzerland.  He protested against the first World War in ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Au-dessus de la mêlée|fr|3=Au-dessus de la mêlée (texte)}}'' (1915), ''Above the Battle'' (Chicago, 1916). In 1924, his book on [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]] contributed to the Indian [[nonviolent]] leader's reputation and the two men met in 1931. Rolland was a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref>Walters, Kerry S; Portmess, Lisa. (1999). ''Ethical Vegetarianism: From Pythagoras to Peter Singer''. State University of New York Press. pp. 135-138. {{ISBN|0-7914-4044-3}}</ref><ref>[https://ivu.org/people/writers/rolland.html "Romain Rolland (1866-1944)"]. International Vegetarian Union.</ref>

In May 1922 he attended the [[International Congress of Progressive Artists]] and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists".<ref name="Review">{{cite web |last1=van Doesburg |first1=Theo |title=De Stijl, "A Short Review of the Proceedings [of the Congress of International Progressive Artists], Followed by the Statements Made by the Artists' Groups" (1922) |url=https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/de-stijl-%E2%80%9Ca-short-review-of-the-proceedings-of-the-congress-of-international-progressive-artists-followed-by-the-statements-made-by-the-artists%E2%80%99-groups%E2%80%9D-1922/ |website=modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com |publisher=Ross Lawrence Wolfe |access-date=30 November 2018|date=22 October 2010 }}</ref>

In 1928 Rolland and Hungarian scholar, philosopher and natural living experimenter [[Edmund Bordeaux Szekely]] founded the International Biogenic Society to promote and expand on their ideas of the integration of mind, body and spirit.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}
In 1932 Rolland was among the first members of the [[World Committee Against War and Fascism]], organized by [[Willi Münzenberg]]. Rolland criticized the control Münzenberg assumed over the committee and was against it being based in [[Berlin]].<ref>{{cite book|page=80 |last=Ceplair|first=Larry|title=Under the Shadow of War: Fascism, Anti-Fascism, and Marxists, 1918–1939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ccjJauxjlIC&pg=PA79|access-date=6 March 2015 |date=1987|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-06532-0}}</ref>

Rolland moved to [[Villeneuve, Vaud|Villeneuve]], on the shores of [[Lake Geneva]] to devote himself to writing. His life was interrupted by health problems, and by travels to art exhibitions. His visit to Moscow (1935), on the invitation of [[Maxim Gorky]], was an opportunity to meet [[Joseph Stalin]], whom he considered the greatest man of his time.<ref>Michael David-Fox, . "The 'Heroic Life' of a Friend of Stalinism: Romain Rolland and Soviet Culture." ''Slavonica'' 11.1 (2005): 3-29.</ref>  Rolland served unofficially as ambassador of French artists to the [[Soviet Union]]. Although he admired Stalin, he attempted to intervene against the persecution of his friends. He attempted to discuss his concerns with Stalin, and was involved in the campaign for the release of the [[Left Opposition]] activist and writer [[Victor Serge]] and wrote to Stalin begging clemency for [[Nikolai Bukharin]]. During Serge's imprisonment (1933–1936), Rolland had agreed to handle the publications of Serge's writings in France, despite their political disagreements.

In 1937, he came back to live in [[Vézelay]], which, in 1940, was occupied by the Germans. During the occupation, he isolated himself in complete solitude.  Never stopping his work, in 1940, he finished his memoirs. He also placed the finishing touches on his musical research on the life of [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]. Shortly before his death, he wrote ''[[Péguy]]'' (1944), in which he examines religion and socialism through the context of his memories. He died on 30 December 1944 in Vézelay.

In 1921, his close friend the Austrian writer [[Stefan Zweig]] published his biography (in English ''Romain Rolland: The Man and His Works''). Zweig profoundly admired Rolland, whom he once described as "the moral consciousness of Europe" during the years of turmoil and War in Europe. Zweig wrote at length about his friendship with Rolland in his own autobiography (in English ''[[The World of Yesterday]]''), discussing, for example, their failed efforts to organize a conference of antiwar intellectuals from both warring camps in neutral Switzerland.<ref> [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.504261/page/101/mode/1up?view=theater Zweig, Stefan, ''The World of Yesterday'', p.101 (1953)].</ref>

Victor Serge was appreciative of Rolland's interventions on his behalf but ultimately thoroughly disappointed by Rolland's refusal to break publicly with Stalin and the repressive Soviet regime.  The entry for 4 May 1945, a few weeks after Rolland's death, in Serge's ''Notebooks: 1936-1947'' notes acidly that "At age seventy the author of ''Jean-Christophe'' allowed himself to be covered with the blood spilled by a tyranny of which he was a faithful adulator."  <ref>{{cite book |last=Serge |first=Victor |date=2019 |title=Notebooks: 1936-1947 |publisher=[[New York Review Books]] | location = New York | isbn = 978-1-68137-270-9 |pages=506–509}}</ref> However, this is completely denied by Romain Rolland's biographer Bernard Duchatelet in his French biography ''[[Romain Rolland: Tel qu'en lui-même]]''. Duchatelet and other Rollandians believe that Rolland remained faithful to his own well-known integrity.

Rolland's life was 'the story of a conscience', as mentioned in the title of the book on him by [[Alex Aronson]].

[[Hermann Hesse]] dedicated ''[[Siddhartha (novel)|Siddhartha]]'' to Romain Rolland "my dear friend".

==People's theatre==
Rolland's most significant contribution to the theatre lies in his advocacy for a "popular theatre" in his essay ''The People's Theatre'' (''Le Théâtre du peuple'', 1902).<ref name="David Bradby 1998 p.930">David Bradby, "Rolland, Romain". In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Ed. Martin Banham. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). {{ISBN|0-521-43437-8}}. p.930.</ref> "There is only one necessary condition for the emergence of a new theatre", he wrote, "that the stage and [[auditorium]] should be open to the masses, should be able to contain a people and the actions of a people".<ref>Romain Rolland, ''Le Théâtre du peuple'' (Paris: Albin Michel) p.121. Quoted by David Bradby and John McCormick, ''People's Theatre'' (London: Croom Helm and Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978). {{ISBN|0-8476-6073-7}}. p.16.</ref> The book was not published until 1913, but most of its contents had appeared in the ''Revue d'Art Dramatique'' between 1900 and 1903. Rolland attempted to put his theory into practice with his [[melodrama]]tic dramas about the [[French Revolution]], ''Danton'' (1900) and ''The Fourteenth of July'' (1902), but it was his ideas that formed a major reference point for subsequent [[Theatre practitioners|practitioners]].<ref name="David Bradby 1998 p.930"/>
{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:32em; max-width: 35%;" cellspacing="0"
| style="text-align: center;" |"The people have been gradually conquered by the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois class]], penetrated by their thoughts and now want only to resemble them. If you long for a people's art, begin by creating a people!"
|-
| style="text-align: right;" |Romain Rolland, ''Le Théâtre du peuple'' (1903).<ref>Quoted by David Bradby and John McCormick, ''People's Theatre'' (London: Croom Helm and Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978). {{ISBN|0-8476-6073-7}}. p.32.</ref>
|}
The essay is part of a more general movement around the turn of that century towards the [[democratization]] of the theatre. The ''Revue'' had held a competition and tried to organize a "World Congress on People's Theatre", and a number of People's Theatres had opened across Europe, including the [[Volksbühne|Freie Volksbühne]] movement ('Free People's Theatre') in Germany and Maurice Pottecher's [[Théâtre du Peuple]] in France. Rolland was a disciple of Pottecher and dedicated ''The People's Theatre'' to him.

Rolland's approach is more aggressive, though, than Pottecher's poetic vision of theatre as a substitute 'social religion' bringing unity to the nation. Rolland indicts the [[bourgeoisie]] for its [[Cultural appropriation|appropriation]] of the theatre, causing it to slide into [[decadence]], and the deleterious effects of its [[Ideology|ideological]] dominance. In proposing a suitable [[Repertory|repertoire]] for his people's theatre, Rolland rejects classical drama in the belief that it is either too difficult or too static to be of interest to the masses. Drawing on the ideas of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], he proposes instead "an epic historical theatre of 'joy, force and intelligence' which will remind the people of its revolutionary heritage and revitalize the forces working for a new society" (in the words of Bradby and McCormick, quoting Rolland).<ref>David Bradby and John McCormick, ''People's Theatre'' (London: Croom Helm and Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978). {{ISBN|0-8476-6073-7}}. p.32.</ref> Rolland believed that the people would be improved by seeing heroic images of their past. Rousseau's influence may be detected in Rolland's conception of theatre-as-[[Festival|festivity]], an emphasis that reveals a fundamental [[anti-theatrical prejudice]]: "Theatre supposes lives that are poor and agitated, a people searching in dreams for a refuge from thought. If we were happier and freer we should not feel hungry for theatre. [...] A people that is happy and free has need of festivities more than of theatres; it will always see in itself the finest [[spectacle]]".<ref>Quoted by David Bradby and John McCormick, ''People's Theatre'' (London: Croom Helm and Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978). {{ISBN|0-8476-6073-7}}. p.32-33.</ref>
[[Image:Piscator Programmzettel 1922.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Programme sheet for [[Erwin Piscator|Piscator's]] 1922 production of Rolland's drama ''The Time Will Come'' (1903), at the Central-Theater in [[Berlin]].]]
Rolland's dramas have been staged by some of the most influential theatre directors of the twentieth century, including [[Max Reinhardt]] and [[Erwin Piscator]].<ref>See John Willett, ''The Theatre of Erwin Piscator: Half a Century of Politics in the Theatre'', London: Methuen, 1978 (p.15, 35, 46–7, 179). {{ISBN|0-413-37810-1}}.</ref> Piscator directed the world première of Rolland's pacifist drama ''The Time Will Come'' (''Le Temps viendra'', written in 1903) at [[Berlin]]'s Central-Theater, which opened on 17 November 1922 with music by K Pringsheim and [[scenic design]] by O Schmalhausen and M Meier.<ref>Piscator (1929, 353).</ref> The play addresses the connections between [[imperialism]] and capitalism, the treatment of enemy civilians, and the use of [[concentration camp]]s, all of which are dramatised via an episode in the [[Boer War]].<ref name=Rorrison>Hugh Rorrison, in Piscator (1929, 55–56).</ref> Piscator described his treatment of the play as "thoroughly [[Naturalism (theatre)|naturalistic]]", whereby he sought "to achieve the greatest possible [[Realism (theatre)|realism]] in acting and decor".<ref>Piscator (1929, 58).</ref> Despite the play's overly-[[rhetoric]]al style, the production was reviewed positively.<ref name=Rorrison/>

==Novels==
Rolland's most famous novel is the 10-volume [[novel sequence]] ''[[Jean-Christophe]]'' (1904–1912), which brings "together his interests and ideals in the story of a German musical genius who makes France his second home and becomes a vehicle for Rolland's views on music, social matters and understanding between nations".<ref>John Cruickshank, "Rolland, Romain", in Anthony Thorlby (ed.), ''[[The Penguin Companion to Literature|The Penguin Companion to Literature 2: European Literature]]''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969, p. 661.</ref> His other novels are ''Colas Breugnon'' (1919), ''[[Clérambault (novel)|Clérambault]]'' (1920), ''[[Pierre et luce|Pierre et Luce]]'' (1920) and his second roman-fleuve, the 7-volume ''L'âme enchantée'' (1922–1933).

== Academic career ==
[[File:The Soviet Union 1966 CPA 3311 stamp (Birth Centenary French Writer Romain Rolland (1866-1944) (after Anatoly Yar-Kravchenko) and Scene from 'Jean-Christophe').jpg|thumb|Stamp from the USSR which commemorates the 100th anniversary of Romain Rolland's birth in 1866.]]

He became a history teacher at [[Lycée Henri IV]], then at the [[Lycée Louis le Grand]], and a member of the [[École française de Rome]], then a professor of the History of Music at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], and History Professor at the École Normale Supérieure.

==Correspondence with Richard Strauss==
In 1899 Rolland started what became a voluminous correspondence with the German composer [[Richard Strauss]] (the English translation, edited by Rollo Myers, runs to 239 pages, including some diary entries).<ref name=Myers68>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=duEqAAAAIAAJ |author1=Richard Strauss |author2=Romain Rolland |date=1968 |title= Richard Strauss & Romain Rolland: Correspondence |publisher=Calder, London | editor=Rollo Myers}}</ref> At the time, Strauss was a celebrated conductor of works by [[Wagner]], [[Liszt]], [[Mozart]], and of his own [[Symphonic poem|tone poems]]. In 1905, Strauss completed his opera [[Salome (opera)|''Salome'']], based on the verse play by [[Oscar Wilde]], originally written in French. Strauss based his version of [[Salome (opera)|''Salome'']] on [[Hedwig Lachmann]]'s German translation which he had seen performed in [[Berlin]] in 1902. Out of respect for Wilde, Strauss wanted to create a parallel French version, to be as close as possible to Wilde's original text, and he wrote to Rolland requesting his help on this project.<ref name=wildean>{{cite journal | url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/48569305 | title= Richard Strauss's ''Salome'' and Oscar Wilde's French Text  | journal=The Wildean|date=2018 |author=[[James Morwood]]| issue= 52 | pages= 63–73 | jstor= 48569305 |accessdate=30 July 2022}}</ref>

Rolland was initially reluctant, but a lengthy exchange ensued, occupying 50 pages of the Myers edition, and in the end Rolland made 191 suggestions for improving the Strauss/Wilde libretto.<ref name=wildean/> The resulting French version of ''Salome'' received its first performance in [[Paris]] in 1907, two years after the German premiere.<ref name=wildean/> Thereafter, Rolland's letters regularly discussed Strauss's operas, including the occasional criticism of Strauss's librettist, [[Hugo von Hoffmannsthal]]: "I only regret that the great writer who gives you such brilliant libretti too often lacks a sense of the theatre."<ref name=Myers68/>

Rolland was a pacifist and concurred with Strauss when the latter refused to sign the [[Manifesto of the Ninety-Three|Manifesto of German artists and intellectuals]] supporting the German role in World War I. Rolland noted Strauss's response in his diary entry for October 1914: "Declarations about war and politics are not fitting for an artist, who must give his attention to his creations and his works."(''Myers p. 160'')

==Correspondence with Freud==
1923 saw the beginning of a correspondence between psychoanalyst [[Sigmund Freud]] and Rolland, who found that the admiration that he showed for Freud was reciprocated in equal measures (Freud proclaiming in a letter to him: "That I have been allowed to exchange a greeting with you will remain a happy memory to the end of my days.").<ref>William B. Parsons, ''The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling: Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) 23, {{ISBN?}} [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78939280  2 Apr. 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604113757/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78939280 |date=4 June 2011 }}.</ref> This correspondence introduced Freud to the concept of the "[[oceanic feeling]]" that Rolland had developed through his study of [[Eastern mysticism]]. Freud opened his next book ''[[Civilization and its Discontents]]'' (1929) with a debate on the nature of this feeling, which he mentioned had been noted to him by an anonymous "friend". This friend was Rolland. Rolland would remain a major influence on Freud's work, continuing their correspondence right up to Freud's death in 1939.<ref>William B. Parsons, ''The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling: Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) 19, {{ISBN?}} [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78939276  2 Apr. 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604113811/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78939276 |date=4 June 2011 }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
[[File:Romain Rolland au balcon, Meurisse, 1914 retouche.jpg|thumb|Romain Rolland in 1914, on the balcony of his home]]
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="width:70%;"
|-
! style="background:#ffc;"| Year
! style="background:#ffc;"| Work
! style="background:#ffc;"| Notes
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1888
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Amour d'enfants''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1891
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Baglioni''
| style="text-align:left;"| Unpublished during his lifetime.
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1891
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Empédocle''<br>(''[[Empedocles]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Unpublished during his lifetime.
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1891
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Orsino'' (play)
| style="text-align:left;"| Unpublished during his lifetime.
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1892
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Dernier Procès de Louis Berquin''<br>(''The Last Trial of Louis Berquin'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;book on the trial of Protestant reformer [[Louis de Berquin]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1895
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Origines du théâtre lyrique moderne''<br>(''The origins of modern lyric theatre'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Academic treatise, which won a prize from the [[Académie Française]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1895
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Histoire de l'opéra avant Lully et Scarlatti''<br>(''A History of Opera in Europe before [[Jean-Baptiste Lully|Lully]] and [[Alessandro Scarlatti|Scarlatti]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Dissertation for his doctorate in Letters
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1895
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Cur ars picturae apud Italos XVI saeculi deciderit''
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Latin]]-language thesis on the decline in Italian oil painting in the course of the sixteenth century
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1897
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Saint-Louis''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1897
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Aërt''
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1898
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Loups''<br>(''The Wolves'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama about [[Dreyfus affair|the Dreyfuss affair]]. Co-written with [[Maurice Schwartz]], and translated by Barrett H. Clark, the play ran for 29 performances in New York in 1932.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Lachman, Marvin|title=The villainous stage : crime plays on Broadway and in the West End|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9534-4|oclc=903807427}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1899
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Triomphe de la raison''<br>(''The Triumph of Reason'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1899
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Georges Danton]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1900
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Poison idéaliste''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1901
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Fêtes de Beethoven à Mayence''<br>(''The Celebrations of Beethoven in [[Mainz]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1902
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Quatorze Juillet'' <br>(''14 July–[[Bastille Day]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1902
| style="text-align:left;"| ''François-Millet''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1903
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Vie de Beethoven'' <br>(''Life of Beethoven'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Novella
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1903
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le temps viendra''<br>(''The Time Will Come'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1903
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Théâtre du peuple''<br>(''The People's Theatre'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Seminal essay in the democratization of theatre.
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1904
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Montespan''
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1904–1912
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Jean-Christophe]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| Cycle of ten volumes divided into three series–''Jean-Christophe'', ''Jean-Christophe à Paris'', and la ''Fin du voyage'', published by ''Cahiers de la Quinzaine''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1904
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Aube''
| style="text-align:left;"| First volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1904
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Matin''<br>(''Morning'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Second volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1904
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Adolescent''<br>(''The Adolescent'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Third volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1905
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Révolte''<br>(''The Revolt'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Fourth volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1907
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Vie de Michel-Ange''<br>(''Life of [[Michelangelo]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Biography
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1908
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Musiciens d'aujourd'hui''<br>(''Contemporary Musicians'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Collection of articles and essays about music
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1908
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Musiciens d'autrefois''<br>(''Musicians of the Past'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Collection of articles and essays about music
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|  1908
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Foire sur la place''
| style="text-align:left;"| First volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe à Paris''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1908
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Antoinette''
| style="text-align:left;"| Second volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe à Paris''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1908
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Dans la maison''<br>(''At Home'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Third volume of the series ''Jean-Christophe à Paris''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1910
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Haendel''<br>(''[[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;Biography
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1910
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Amies''<br>(''Friends'')
| style="text-align:left;"| First volume of the series ''la Fin du voyage''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1911
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Vie de Tolstoï''<br>(''Life of [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Biography
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1911
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Buisson ardent''
| style="text-align:left;"| Second volume of the series ''la Fin du voyage''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1912
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Nouvelle Journée''
| style="text-align:left;"| Third volume of the series ''la Fin du voyage''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1911
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Jean-Christophe: Dawn . Morning . Youth . Revolt''
| style="text-align:left;"| In English, first four volumes published in one. Henry Holt and Company. Translated by Gilbert Cannan
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1911
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Jean-Christophe in Paris: The Market Place . Antoinette . The House''
| style="text-align:left;"| In English, second three volumes published in one. Henry Holt and Company. Translated by Gilbert Cannan
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1915
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Jean-Christophe: Journey's End: Love and Friendship . The Burning Bush . The New Dawn''
| style="text-align:left;"| In English, final three volumes published in one. Henry Holt and Company. Translated by Gilbert Cannan
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1912
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Humble Vie héroïque''<br>(''The Humble Life of the Hero'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1915
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Au-dessus de la mêlée'' <br>(''Above the Battle'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Pacifist manifesto
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1915
| style="text-align:left;"| —
| style="text-align:left;"| Received the Nobel Prize in Literature
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1917
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Salut à la révolution russe''<br>(''Salute to the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1918
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Pour l'internationale de l'Esprit''<br>(''For the International of the Spirit'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1918
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Âge de la haine''<br>(''The Age of Hatred'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1919
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Colas Breugnon''
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundian]] story, and basis for ''Colas Breugnon'', the opera by [[Dmitry Kabalevsky]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1919
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Liluli''
| style="text-align:left;"| Play
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1919
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Précurseurs''<br>(''The Forerunners'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1920
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Clérambault (novel)|Clérambault]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;Novel
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1920
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Pierre et Luce]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;Novel
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1921
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Pages choisies''<br>(''Selected Pages'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1921
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Révolte des machines''<br>(''The Revolt of the Machines'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1922
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Annette et Sylvie''
| style="text-align:left;"| First volume of ''l'Âme enchantée''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1922
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Vaincus''
''(The Vanquished)''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1922–1933
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Âme enchantée''<br>(''The Enchanted Soul'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Seven volumes
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1923
| style="text-align:left;"| —
| style="text-align:left;"|Founded the review ''[[Europe (magazine)|Europe]]''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1924
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Été''<br>(''Summer'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Second volume of ''l'Âme enchantée''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1924
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Mahatma Gandhi]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1924
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Jeu de l'amour et de la mort''<br>(''The Game of Love and Death'')
| style="text-align:left;"| basis for ''Hra o láske a smrti'', the opera by [[Ján Cikker]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1926
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Pâques fleuries''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1927
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Mère et fils''<br>(''Mother and Child'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Third volume of ''l'Âme enchantée''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1928
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Léonides''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1928
| style="text-align:left;"| ''De l'Héroïque à l'Appassionata''<br>(''From the Heroic to the Passionate'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1929
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Essai sur la mystique de l'action''<br>(''A study of the Mystique of Action'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1929
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Inde vivante''<br>(''Living India'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Essays
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1929
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Vie de Ramakrishna''<br>(''Life of [[Ramakrishna]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Essays
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1930
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Vie de Vivekananda''<br>(''Life of [[Vivekananda]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Essays
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1930
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Évangile universel''
| style="text-align:left;"| Essays
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1930
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Goethe et Beethoven''<br>(''[[Goethe]] and Beethoven'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Essay
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1933
| style="text-align:left;"| ''L'Annonciatrice''
| style="text-align:left;"| Fourth volume of ''l'Âme enchantée''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1935
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Quinze ans de combat''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1936
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Compagnons de route''
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1937
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Chant de la Résurrection''<br>(''Song of the Resurrection'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1938
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Les Pages immortelles de Rousseau''<br>(''The Immortal Pages of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]]'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1939
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Robespierre]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| Historical/philosophical drama
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1942
| style="text-align:left;"| ''Le Voyage intérieur''<br>(''The Interior Voyage'')
| style="text-align:left;"| &nbsp;
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1943
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Cathédrale interrompue''<br>(''The Interrupted Cathedral'')
| style="text-align:left;"| Volumes I and II
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1945
| style="text-align:left;"| ''[[Charles Péguy|Péguy]]''
| style="text-align:left;"| Posthumous publication
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 1945
| style="text-align:left;"| ''La Cathédrale interrompue''
| style="text-align:left;"| Volume III, posthumous
|}

==See also==
* [[List of peace activists]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Duchatelet, Bernard. "Romain Rolland: Tel qu'en lui-même", Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 2002.
* Fisher, David James. ''Romain Rolland and the Politics of the Intellectual Engagement'' (2003) 
* Guha, Chinmoy. "Bridging East and West: Rabindranath Tagore and Romain Rolland Correspondence 1919-1940", New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* David-Fox, Michael. "The 'Heroic Life' of a Friend of Stalinism: Romain Rolland and Soviet Culture." ''Slavonica'' 11.1 (2005): 3-29. [http://www.academia.edu/download/35155133/Rolland.pdf Online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Zweig, Stephan. ''Romain Rolland: The Man and His Work'' (1921) ([https://archive.org/details/romainrollandman00zweirich online])

== External links ==
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Wikisource author-inline}}
* {{wikisourcelang-inline|fr|Auteur:Romain Rolland}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=15 List of Works]
* [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/41495.Romain_Rolland Romain Rolland at Goodreads]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060428205535/http://www.angelfire.com/ego2/olko/cgi-bin/rolland-bio-ess.html Sven Söderman on Rolland]
* [http://www.association-romainrolland.org/ Association Romain Rolland]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160916163215/http://www.vedanta-newyork.org/articles/on_sri_ramakrishna.htm#rolland Romain Rolland's thoughts] on [[Vedanta]]
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{PM20}}

===Electronic editions===
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/romain-rolland}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=2602| name=Romain Rolland}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Rolland, Romain|name=Romain Rolland|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Romain Rolland}}
* {{Librivox author}}

{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1915 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Prix Femina}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolland, Romain}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:19th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:École Normale Supérieure alumni]]
[[Category:French expatriates in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:French Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:French pacifists]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:People from Nièvre]]
[[Category:Prix Femina winners]]
[[Category:Writers about the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Writers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Romain Rolland| ]]