Romain Rolland

Stefan Zweig's book on Romain Rolland, subtitled The Man and His Work, was translated from the original manuscript by Eden and Cedar Paul. The dedication says the author does not merely describe the work of a great European but above all pays tribute to a personality who has loomed as the most impressive moral phenomenon of our age. The text says he first came to look upon universal history as an eternal ebb and flow of epochs, wherein yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow comprise but a single living entity.

The text names Paul Claudel, André Suarès, and Charles Péguy as intimate friends of Romain Rolland in their formative years. A physical description says a man is tall and massive, almost uncouth, with large hands and brawny arms, and that these characteristics derive from the crude energy of his peasant forefathers on the maternal side. The text describes an invisible realm whose frontiers are open to all who wish to dwell therein, whose only law is that of brotherhood and whose only enemies are hatred and arrogance between nations.