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Romain Rolland (1866-1944)

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£ 1 890
Auction dateClassic
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1108960
Lot 161 | Romain Rolland (1866-1944)
Romain Rolland (1866-1944)
Series of 21 autograph letters and three autograph postcards signed ('Romain Rolland') to Ethel Sidgwick, Schoenbrunn, Vevey, Geneva, Villeneuve, Bern, Vézelay, many n.p., 22 May 1909 - 24 August 1939
In French. Approx. 73 pages, various sizes, one letter including an autograph musical quotation; with a carbon copy typescript signed (with initials, 'R.R.') of Rolland's 'Déclaration d’indépendance de l’esprit', one page. Provenance: Sotheby's London, 16 May 1978, lot 365.

A wide-ranging correspondence to an English novelist. Rolland's letters discuss his writing, including frequent references in the earlier letters to his 10-volume novel sequence Jean-Christophe (1904-1912), writing particularly warmly after a letter of appreciation from Sidgwick on the last volume in the series; there is also much on the differing natures of the English and the French and of men and women, on the life of an artist, referring to his appreciation for non-French friends, including Malwida von Meysenbug (the friend of Wagner and Nietzsche), on happiness (‘Le secret du bonheur, c’est d’aimer la vie’), mentioning his teaching on the history of music at the Sorbonne, his dislike of Paris (‘Je n’aime pas ces fourmilières humaines’, his efforts as a pacifist during the Great War, and expressing weak support for women’s suffrage in the same context (‘I can only say that I am not a suffragist for men … How should I be one for women?’, 25 May 1915).

'... ce qu’il y a de plus difficile à échanger, peut-être, c’est sa pensée ; il est malaisé de se connaître … Mais Christophe m’a aidé à sortir de moi, et, depuis des années, tout ce que je pense, je le dis en lui … Mon Jean-Christophe est – ( veut être ) – bien plutôt que le poême d’un génie’. (22 May 1909)


Ethel Sidgwick (1877-1970) was a novelist and author of plays for children.
Artist:Romain Rolland (1866 - 1944)
Place of origin:Russia
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
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United Kingdom
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