Above the Battle

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

Rating 4.0

Word count: 246K words
Chapters: 25

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.Above the Battle by Romain RollandAuthor: Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Jun 12, 2010

Editor's review

Written during the First World War, this work by Romain Rolland stands as a testament to an intellectual's insistence on independent thought amid nationalist fervor. It is not a record of battles but a sustained inquiry into war and peace, nation and humanity, violence and conscience. Through essayistic argument and letters from people across nations, the author seeks a common human foundation above the clamor of hatred among belligerent countries. Its value lies in showing how a writer refuses to be carried along by camp narratives and maintains clear moral judgment and humanistic concern in extraordinary times. The prose has the passion of argument and the honesty of self-doubt; one can feel the weight of thought under pressure. It suits readers of wartime history or twentieth-century intellectual history as a counterpoint text, and those interested in pacifism and the responsibility of intellectuals. Because the book is distant from us in time and context, some arguments require understanding against the First World War background, but its core questions are not outdated.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the intellectual history of World War I and pacifism
Literature lovers curious about Romain Rolland's nonfiction writing
Those concerned with how intellectuals speak independently in wartime
Teachers and students seeking a short polemical collection to spark classroom discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic military history or battle details of World War I
Readers who prefer plot-driven narrative and lack patience for argumentative prose
Those hoping for direct solutions to contemporary international conflicts

Reading tips

Read the preface or publisher's note first to understand the nationalist atmosphere of World War I, then move into the main text.
Read one or two pieces a day and jot down the author's core arguments and evidence to avoid being overwhelmed by dense discussion.
Read alongside anti-war or pro-war texts of the same period to observe how different positions organize language.
After finishing, revisit the passages you initially agreed with and test whether your position has shifted through reading.

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?

Judging from its classification and title, it is an intellectual argumentative work from the World War I period, not a novel. It revolves around war, nation, and human conscience, with essayistic and polemical qualities, so it is better read as a work of thought than as a story.

Can I understand it without background knowledge of World War I?

You can read it, but understanding will be reduced. Many arguments target the wartime public opinion and national sentiment of the time; knowing the European intellectual atmosphere around 1914 first will make it easier to grasp why the author spoke 'above the battle.'

How difficult is the English original?

The author is French, and this is an English translation; the sentences are formal and argumentative, with many long sentences and abstract nouns. Readers with university-level English can work through it with a dictionary; reading in sections and summarizing paragraph main ideas is advisable rather than rushing.

What value does this book still have today?

Its value lies not in offering historical conclusions but in modeling an attitude of independent judgment amid group fervor. It remains relevant for understanding how intellectuals face war, nationalism, and the底线 of humanity, and can help readers reflect on today's public opinion environment.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.