In 1922 there appeared in Paris, from the pen of Rolland, the first volumes of _L’âme enchantée_ which is now appearing in English version, by Ben Ray Redman, as _Annette and Sylvie: The Prelude_ and a second volume, _Summer_, translated by Eleanor Stimson and Van Wyck Brooks. In his Foreword the author tells his readers that they are starting with him upon a new journey which will not be so long as that of _Jean-Christophe_ but will include more than one stage. He asks suspension of judgment until the tale is finished, quoting the old adage, “La fin loue la vie, et le soir le jour.” He expresses the domination that his characters gain over him--Jean, Colas, Annette--so that he becomes no more “than the secretary of their thoughts.” No thesis nor theory is in this story but it is another life history, struggling to find Truth, to reach harmony of spirit amid many kinds of buffetings and joys. Two girls, half sisters, Annette and Sylvie, afford him scope for sharp antitheses in character-drawing. Annette is a girl of fine health and brain, educated at the Sorbonne. She had adored her father but, because of some letters which she found after his death, she realizes his infidelities to her mother and understands his secretive smiles. She locates her half sister who never bore his name--Sylvie, pretty, uneducated, capricious, gay, unmoral. The deep passions of Annette, her reserves and independence, her repugnance to any “possessiveness” on the part of her lover, Roger Brissot, and his family, lead to a scene of erotic realism. This is followed by words of the author’s own creed, his Search for Truth: “I am not one of those who fear the fatigues of the road.... I am seeking.... I am convinced that it is possible to love one’s child, loyally perform one’s domestic task, and still keep enough of oneself, as one ought to--for the most essential thing ... one’s soul.”[108] The second volume reveals the material and spiritual conflicts of Annette, as a mother and teacher, and Sylvie’s experiences in marriage and business. In his latest book, as in his earlier plays and fiction, M. Rolland has revealed that idealism which, in his philosophy, means harmony and freedom, of both aspiration and action. His form is often careless and sometimes crude; but it has high lights of great beauty and true art. In his own life he has waged many battles that have left scars upon his sensitive temperament and fine soul. They have never shattered his spiritual creed, his faith in humanity. He has written ardently in behalf of international friendship and intellectual unity. In the future he may be ranked as a prophet as well as a scholar, a seer as well as a writer. Amid the turmoil of his generation he has been a force, making for peace; he has held high the banner of world-fellowship and sounded the challenge against racial jealousies. FOOTNOTES: [101] Inscription with the Nobel Prize Award in Literature, 1915.