Romain Rolland

Educated at the Ecole Normale Superieur, Rolland received his degree in history in 1889. He then traveled abroad for six years before returning to France in 1895. He did not publish his first book until 1902, although he made numerous historical dramas during the 1890's. He taught history in various schools until 1912, when he resigned to focus on his writing. That same year, he completed his most famous work, Jean-Christophe, a masterpiece in more than a dozen works. In 1915, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. A dedicated volunteer scholar, Rolland wrote many works criticizing the First World War. He became the writer of Sigmund Freud, who loved him dearly, and it is said that Rolland was a good influence on Freud's later work. Rolland himself was heavily influenced by Eastern philosophy and wrote extensively on those and related topics, including Mahatma Gandhi's biography in 1924. He traveled to the Soviet Union in the 1930's and, although acquainted with Stalin, was shocked by the brutality of the regime. He spent the 1940s until his death in 1944 under German occupation, but continued to write. His other works include Life of Michaelangelo (1907), Life of Tolstoy (1911), Salute to the Russian Revolution (1917), The Age of Hatred (1918), Clerambault (1921), The Game of Love and Death (1925), Living India (1929), The Resurrection Song (1937), Robespierre (1939), The Interior Voyage (1942) and Peguy (1945 Posthumous).