am I for this reason to betray my conscience, to kill my soul? This
would signify the betrayal of my country. I belong to the army of the
spirit, not to the army of force." But brute force takes its revenge
upon the man who despises force, and he is killed in a chance medley.
Only his ideals, which were his true life, survive him, to renew for
those of a later generation the mystic idealism of his faith.
Marvelously delineated is the answer made by the advocate of mental
force to the advocate of physical force, by the genius of the spirit to
the genius of action. The two heroes are profoundly united in their love
for art, in their passion for freedom, in their need for spiritual
purity. Each is "pious and free" in his own sense; they are brothers in
that ultimate domain which Rolland finely terms "the music of the
soul"--in goodness. But Jean Christophe's goodness is that of instinct;
it is elemental, therefore, and liable to be interrupted by passionate
relapses into hate. Olivier's goodness, on the other hand, is
intellectual and wise, and is tinged merely at times by ironical
skepticism. But it is this contrast between them, it is the fact that
their aspirations towards goodness are complementary, which draws them
together. Christophe's robust faith revives joy in life for the lonely
Olivier. Christophe, in turn, learns justice from Olivier. The sage is
uplifted by the strong, who is himself enlightened by the sage's
clarity. This mutual exchange of benefits symbolizes the relationship
between their nations. The friendship between the two individuals is
designed to be the prototype of a spiritual alliance between the brother
peoples. France and Germany are "the two pinions of the west." The
European spirit is to soar freely above the blood-drenched fields of the
past.
CHAPTER X
GRAZIA
Jean Christophe is creative action; Olivier is creative thought; a third
form is requisite to complete the cycle of existence, that of Grazia,
creative being, who secures fulfillment merely through her beauty and
refulgence. In her case likewise the name is symbolic. Jean Christophe
Krafft, the embodiment of virile energy, reëncounters, comparatively
late in life, Grazia, who now embodies the calm beauty of womanhood.
Thus his impetuous spirit is helped to realize the final harmony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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