The Forerunners

Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 387K words
Chapters: 39

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Forerunners by Romain RollandAuthor: Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Feb 17, 2010

Editor's review

Written during World War I, The Forerunners gathers Romain Rolland's essays of ideas, released as a public-domain eBook by Project Gutenberg. It is neither a novel nor a biography but the author's serious reflection on war, nationalism and the spiritual future of humanity, embodying his enduring humanist stance and his appeal to the European conscience. The writing is strongly argumentative and morally probing, and is best read in the context of WWI intellectual history and pacifist literature. Readers familiar with Jean-Christophe or the lives of great men will find here the side of Rolland's thought that confronts real politics; those studying the anti-war positions of early twentieth-century European intellectuals will find a primary text. Read slowly, with the history of WWI in mind, and without expecting narrative plot. As a public-domain eBook it is a light edition, suited to excerpted and thematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in Romain Rolland's thought and background
Scholars studying European pacifist currents during World War I
Readers of intellectual essays who want humanist anti-war writing
History and literature students needing a public-domain English text for thematic study

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers expecting plot or characters
Light readers impatient with political and philosophical essays
Beginners whose English still needs Chinese annotation

Reading tips

Learn the background of early-WWI European thought first, then enter the text to grasp its argument more easily.
Read by theme, marking passages on nationalism and conscience for separate reflection.
Read alongside Rolland's other anti-war writings to observe shifts in his stance.
After reading, write a short note sorting out the author's definition of the forerunner's role.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a collection of essays?

In the Gutenberg classification it falls under WWI history and consists of essays of ideas and political commentary, not fiction. Read it as Rolland's wartime statement of his humanist position and his discussion of Europe's spiritual crisis, expecting argument and attitude rather than plot.

Can I read it without having read other works by Rolland?

Yes. The book is short and focused and does not depend on his novels. Still, having read Jean-Christophe or the lives of great men makes it easier to understand the spiritual temperament and heroic ideal he champions, and thus to grasp more accurately the weight of the word forerunner in his thought.

How difficult is the English, and what preparation is needed?

The text is public-domain English in a formal, argumentative register with fairly formal syntax. University-level reading ability is enough; keep a dictionary at hand and know the basic facts of WWI. If it proves hard, read Chinese background material first, then return to the original to pick out the core passages.

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About the author

Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944 Author

Romain Rolland (1866–1944) was a French writer. The library holds 30 of his works, most notably the various volumes of his novel series Jean-Christophe, including Jean-Christophe I, III, IV, and IX, Jean-Christophe in Paris, and Jean-Christophe: Journey's End. These works follow the life of a musician, depicting his growth, struggles, and spiritual pursuits in a style that combines idealism with realism and carries a strong musical and philosophical quality. Public information is limited, and details of his life, nationality, and exact dates are not clearly recorded in the library, so they are not elaborated here. His writing has had some influence on twentieth-century Chinese readers and is often regarded as a literary expression of the pursuit of spiritual freedom and personal independence.