100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 75 The Symphony of Heroes and Heroes
Chapter 74 A Symphony of a Hero: "Jean-Christophe"

"John?"Christopher" is the author's 20 years of painstaking efforts: 10 years of conception and 10 years of writing.the front of the book
The inscription is: "Dedicated to the suffering, struggle, and victory of the free souls of all countries."

In this chaotic era, I hope that Christophe will become a strong and faithful friend, so that everyone will have the joy of life and love
Happy, so that everyone can live and love regardless of everything! ""John? Christophe" describes the German genius of civilian origin
Musician John?Christophe's life of striving for fame.He pursued the truth, goodness and beauty all his life, resisted the decayed art,
Constant conflict with the vulgar social environment.The author celebrates humanitarianism, idealism and heroism through his personal struggle
, showing the social life of Western European countries such as Germany, France and Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is an ideal

He won the 1915 Nobel Prize for Literature for his works of art that combined socialism and realism.

A grand masterpiece and a heroic song

Roman?Roland (1866～1944) French writer, musicologist and social activist.

From 1898, Roland began to write.His life's works include novels, dramas, biographies, current affairs commentary, art research, etc.

Writings and political essays, etc.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Roland wrote the "heroic biographies" of the three major artists in history.

"—"Biography of Beethoven" (1903), "Biography of Michelangelo" (1906) and "Biography of Tolstoy" (1911). At the same time

He wrote his first novel "John?Christopher (1903
~1912), became famous in one fell swoop.The novel is closely related to the theme of the hero's biography.

"John?"Christopher" is Roland's famous work and representative work of early novels.At the rate of one volume per year, Roland completed the
A description of the life of Christophe, a Beethoven-style "hero".This great work is as long as one hundred thousand words and consists of 10 volumes.

Wrote the genius musician John of civilian origin?Christophe's life of striving for fame.John?Christophe is the whole book

central image.

This novel reflects the social life in France from 1871 to the First World War, and powerfully summarizes
The spiritual outlook of French intellectuals in this historical period.

The protagonist Christophe was born in a poor musician family in a small city on the east bank of the Rhine River in Germany, and he has an outstanding musical talent.
talent.He was upright and stubborn, hated the social environment at that time, despised the wealthy, rebelled against the nobles, and was dissatisfied with the philistines.

Rejected by the upper class, even life is forced to a corner.Once, he happened to see a group of soldiers insulting peasants, and immediately

They pulled out their fists to help, but unexpectedly caused their lives. They had to flee the motherland overnight and came to France.

Christophe originally thought that France was the center of real civilization, where he could develop his personality and genius and complete artistic creations.
industry, but did not expect the Parisian literary world to be equally corrupt and depraved.Unwilling to sink into the secular world, he drifts with the tide and proudly fights alone,

As a result, he ran into walls everywhere, and his musical works were booed.At this time, he met the young French writer Olivier, and

Become close friends.Under the guidance of the latter, Christophe began to contact the lower class citizens, calling them "true French" and
"Free Soul".But in the end, because of self-admiration and contempt for the masses, he broke away from the people and avoided social storms, so he had to continue to play music.
Seek personal spiritual liberation in art.In the end, he became famous and died alone in the memory of the past.

John?Christophe is smart and sensitive, and felt the injustice of society at a very young age. At the age of 6, because of being bullied by the rich young master, he died

For the first time, I realized the existence of social oppression and developed a sense of resistance.He felt a wave of anger raging in his heart.
move.His desire to survive, to uphold justice, to punish the wicked, to eradicate violence is intoxicating.He feels that only music is sinking

He brought light to his dull and dark life.The music intoxicated him, and his heart surged with the joyous torrents of the music
.He practiced piano hard and finally became a well-known music prodigy.He began to work as a court musician at the age of 11, and at the age of 14 he provoked the whole world.
The burden of family life has become the head of the family.He is eager to win, eager to express himself authentically, to let the boat of life go straight out

, Dreaming that one day I can be a living sun.After experiencing the destruction of teenage friendships, the pain and sorrow of losing a relationship, in

With the help of his uncle, he realized that a hero is someone who does everything he can to do what he can.

In "John?On the title page of Christophe, the author titled the novel "Free Soul", which refers to the pursuit of truth.
Good and beautiful civilized warriors.In the preface to the first edition of Volume [-], Roland said that he wrote this book to "resist an unhealthy civilization", because

Therefore, he believes that what he writes is not a pure novel, but "creates a person. A person's life must not be influenced by a culture."
limitations of the academic form.It has its own rules." This is the author's idea of ​​reforming the novel, and he pursues a higher aesthetic level of the work
Second, find out the hidden philosophy. "John?Christophe is a successful attempt of this unique style.

In the gallery of positive images in bourgeois literature, there are quite a few heroes of personal resistance, but they all have selfish desires of one kind or another,

Ambition and impurities, but like Christophe who is spotless, selfless and fearless, has a strong sense of mission, "love the truth more than love

Self", personal resistance heroes who pursue truth, goodness and beauty all their lives are rare. If we say that Hamlet is a modern resource in the history of European literature

If the bourgeoisie is the first civilized image, then it can be said that Christophe is the last civilized image of the modern bourgeoisie.Roland

In the preface of the first edition of volume ten, it is written, "I wrote down the tragedy of a generation that is about to be wiped out. I exposed its flaws and virtues without any concealment.

, its heavy sorrow, its chaotic pride, its heroic endeavors, and to recreate a world, a

aesthetics, a belief, a new humanity. — This is our past history. "The author is here
It is about the civilization of the last heroes of the modern bourgeoisie.It is also this kind of "civilization" that makes this great work from its birth

For more than half a century, it has transcended time and space, attracting generations of readers with different cultural backgrounds. "John?Christophe
The "civilization" of Husband has strong artistic charm and symbolic meaning.

The history of human spiritual civilization is the history of progressive culture's continuous victory over barbarism, ignorance, conservatism, and decay.Christophe

Husband was born in Germany, known as the country of music, which is the hometown of the world-famous "Music Giant" Beethoven.Christopher
Influenced by folk music and classical music since he was a child, listening to his mother humming folk songs is his "sweetest happiness".thinking about my uncle

He was taught to pay attention to the true feelings of folk music, and he "never forgets my uncle when writing music".german music founder xu
Ci prompted him to increase the courage to fight.He often plays the works of the famous musician Bach, from which he gets close to those "great minds"

.He likes the song king Schubert's "pure music".Beethoven is the hero he admired all his life, and he aspired to be like Beethoven.
Like Fern, he was "strong enough to suffer" and "dedicated his life to the highest and most perfect things."At the same time, he accepts

Influenced by the traditions of Western civilization, I understand the ancient souls of Homer's epics, and I like Achilles-style heroes.He read Molière,

Works of bourgeois thinkers and writers such as Racine, La Fontaine, Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, Goethe, and Schiller.in him

In his mind, both Shakespeare and Beethoven are inexhaustible springs of life, and he especially likes "Hamlet".

, Take "this magical mirror to take another look at your true self", and marvel at how strong the vitality in the play is.Christopher
From these progressive cultures, accept humanism, democracy and enlightenment ideas, and form the sincerity and frankness unique to the image of civilization.
The character traits of innocence, self-esteem, fearlessness, active struggle, and hard work.

Roland pointed out that "sincerity is a rare talent like intelligence and beauty", it is the most basic quality of civilization; only sincere
Only human beings can have noble morals and noble souls, and can create artistic beauty with true civilization.sincerity is chris

Dove's main character traits.He hates hypocrisy, the most unforgivable shortcoming is insincerity, and the most disturbing thing is to replace the absurd

The most irritating thing is lies, the biggest vow is to write for the truth, and the most unreserved thing is to express your true feelings
, the most dissatisfied is the unkind compliment.Christophe's sincerity reaches a pure degree, showing the beauty and culture of morality.

Ming power.It dwarfs all false and ugly things and infects all good people.

Christophe's sincerity in pursuing the purest and the best comes from the spiritual qualities necessary for a civilized image: strong self-consciousness.
Knowledge, the spirit of daring to resist.John?Christophe is a man who never succumbs to evil forces, nor agrees with ugly art

people.His life is a life of exploration and struggle.Although its "soul" is humanitarianism and individual heroism

, Do
Although his character inevitably has contradictory duality, his courage to go forward and never turn back in pursuit of the truth
, At that time, it played a huge role in calling on people to resist the decadent society with an independent and uninhibited spirit of freedom.Christophe

Husband is not only the author Roman?The hero in Roland's mind was also the hero in the minds of many readers at that time, and it was their "life test".

"Good Friend and Guide" in "Experiment". This novel is divided into ten volumes and has been published successively since 1904. With the ups and downs of the protagonist,

With the development of destiny, Christophe arouses more and more fanatical sympathy among readers.When it was finally completed in 1912, that is, John?

When the news of Christophe's death spread all over the world, many readers couldn't help crying aloud, they couldn't bear to "heartache".
Friends of love" leave them.

"Music" Fiction Cultural Bridge

"John?Christophe is an outstanding work of French critical realism literature in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

He enjoys a high reputation in the literary world.Called "a bridge between two centuries of culture", "the conscience of Europa", Gower
Key called it "the French Tolstoy".

"John?"Christophe" is grand in scale, has excellent psychological description and natural scene description, and is full of philosophy and lyricism.
There are a lot of discussions about color, that is, political factors and so on.These descriptions and discussions condition each other, connect with each other, and are both the masters of the displayed works.

The theme service of other images and outstanding works in the publicity and book.What is particularly noteworthy is the river-like structural form of the work,

and unique musicality.

Indeed, "John?Christophe is an extraordinary masterpiece with strong lyricism, wise philosophy and sharp political theory.

Theories, profound psychological monologues, and beautiful scenery descriptions are intertwined, forming a unique and enduring charm of "

"Music" novel. It is an epoch-making work in modern French literature and the greatest literary creation in the world in the early 20th century

One of the harvest.The full Chinese translation of this novel was published in Shanghai in 1946, and it was popular among Chinese readers, especially young intellectuals.

Warmly welcome, as one reviewer put it: "The sense of social justice that outrages evil and the yearning for literary

The idealistic passion and fighting spirit of enlightenment and yearning for justice played a positive role in the readers during the period of our country's democratic revolution.

The positive role has touched and inspired countless young people who demand progress. "

(End of this chapter)