THE

FOURTEENTH OF JULY

AND

DANTON

TWO PLAYS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

BY

ROMAIN ROLLAND

AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION

WITH A PREFACE

BY

BARRETT H. CLARK

LONDON

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.

1919

CONTENTS
ROMAIN ROLLAND AND THE PEOPLE'S THEATER
THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY (Le 14 Juillet)
DANTON (Danton)

ROMAIN ROLLAND AND THE PEOPLE'S THEATER

It is perhaps a little surprising to learn that the author ofJean-Christophe has written at least sixteen full-lengthplays. Most of these, it is true, antedate the publication ofthe first parts of his epoch-making novel, but since nothingthat comes from the brain of Romain Rolland can fail to possesssignificance and interest, a brief inquiry into his dramaticwritings and theories on the drama will reveal an aspect ofthe man which has hitherto strangely enough scarcely beentouched upon. His plays for a people's theater, and his bookof projects, are as integral a part of his development asJean-Christophe itself.

The life of M. Rolland seems to have been a perpetualstruggle between conflicting mental forces: for years he readphilosophy, and suffered agonies before he at last foundhimself spiritually; until the completion of Jean-Christophehe was a prey to doubts regarding the utility of art and theend of life. He applied in turn to the great master-minds ofthe world—Empedocles, Spinoza, Michelangelo, Shakespeare,Beethoven, Tolstoy—seeking for a satisfactory philosophy oflife. Small wonder, therefore, that his work should bear theimprint of the masters who have at one time or another been hisguides and inspiration.

His two years' sojourn in Rome, from 1890 to 1892, awakeneda passionate interest in the Italian Renaissance, which heimmediately translated into plays. It is likely that Orsino,Les Baglioni, and Le Siège de Mantoue, plays of theRenaissance, were inspired by Shakespeare, for whose historicaldramas M. Rolland professes a decided partiality. The playsare not published, but if we can judge from the fact thatMounet-Sully wished to produce Orsino, they must have shownsome of the power of the later plays. At Rome he was associatedwith the aged revolutionist Malwida von Meysenbug, whom he hadmet at Versailles some time before, and doubtless the storyof her eventful life had its part in shaping his Ideals. Fourother plays—three of them on classical subjects—belong to thisperiod: Niobe, Caligula, Empédocle, and Jeanne de Piennes.It is probable that these also belonged to the writer's periodof apprenticeship. At the end of M. Rolland's stay in Rome hewent to the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, in company with Malwida.

Even at this time he was already dreaming of a new theaterin France, and his theoretical writings of later times bearunmistakable proof of the impression made upon him by theBayreuth theater and Wagner's epoch-making ideas on art and thepeople.

After his marriage in 1892 Romain Rolland returned to Italy,where he gathered material for his thesis, which he presentedand successfully upheld at the Sorbonne in 1895. His subject wasThe Origins of the Modern Lyric Theater. History of the Operain Europe