In his epic story of a musician and his associates, Rolland was a preacher of aspiration and harmony to the whole world, in spite of localized atmosphere. He recalled the words of Goethe, “National literature now means very little; the epoch of world literature is at hand”; and he urged, “Let us make Goethe’s prophecy a living reality.”[105] His hero was to have a long, circuitous journey in his search for expression of his aspirations; he was to meet many kinds of people and races; he was to have some of the tragic experiences of musicians of real life, Beethoven, Wagner, and Hugo Wolf; he was to keep aloft the banner of idealism, of faith in humanity. Like the author, he was to be victimized by the hard realities of life and disillusionments. The book was to have many themes and varied notes but was to be blended, at the last, into a perfect symphony. The preludes were written in 1895-1897; the last chords were played in October, 1912. Parts were written in France and Italy; others, in Switzerland and England. No work of fiction of such prodigious length, totaling more than 1550 pages, in the three-volume edition translated by Gilbert Cannan, could be written without many lapses, many passages of uneven merit. Some of the characters are vital and haunting to the memory, like Olivier, Grazia, Antoinette, Sabine, Jacqueline, Emmanuel, Dr. Braun, besides the hero; others flit across the pages and are forgotten. Condensation of some chapters would add to their effectiveness but the author’s discursive, intuitive comments make a valuable asset of the book. It may be reread in parts with enjoyment, just as a musical program, for an evening, has selected movements in a fugue or a symphony. When it was suggested to Rolland that he seemed to show enmity towards Germany, by some of the reproaches of her false standards, his reply was, “I am not in the least an enemy of Germany”; in proof, he cited that he had rated soundly as many faults in France, in Volume V, as he had in Germany in Volume IV. He contended that Germany had creative energy and moral vigor but that she was “sick” in this twentieth century, just as France was diseased and needed to be purged to restore her noble qualities. Heroic souls are found in both countries but the people, as a whole, fail to interpret each other aright. Unless such understanding can be established in _friendship_, war will sunder the nations--such was the prophetic message of _Jean-Christophe_ which was fulfilled two years later. His book was intended as a “common heritage for all” of Europe.