ANNETTE
AND
SYLVIE
Being Volume One of
The Soul Enchanted
By
ROMAIN ROLLAND
Translated from the French by
BEN RAY REDMAN
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1925
Annette and Sylvie is the prelude of a work in several volumes, thatbears the title: The Soul Enchanted.
Love, who later shall engender Thought. . . .
RIG-VEDA
CONTENTS
PART ONE
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
PART TWO
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII
FOREWORD
Upon the threshold of a new journey which, without being as long as thatof "Jean-Christophe," will include more than one stage, I would remindmy readers of the friendly prayer which I addressed to them at aturning-point in the story of my musician. At the commencement ofRevolt, I admonished them to consider each volume as one chapter ofa moving work, whose thought unrolled only as rapidly as the liferepresented. Citing the old adage, La fin loue la vie, et le soir lejour, I added: When we shall have made an end, you may judge the worthof our effort.
Of course, I understand that each volume has its own character, that itmust be judged separately as a work of art; but it would be premature tojudge the general thought from a single volume. When I write a novel, Ichoose a human being with whom I feel certain affinities,—or, rather,it is he who chooses me. Once this person has been selected, I leave himperfectly free, I beware of mingling my personality with his. It is aweighty burden, a personality that one has borne for more than half acentury. The divine boon of a