Clerambault

Despite the public and private rejections, Clerambault continues to dedicate his time and literary skills to exposing the crimes being committed. He eventually meets would-be revolutionaries, who agree with his thinking on the war and French society, but who desire a more radical course of action than Clerambault can endorse.

Though ostensibly written about the war, Rolland makes clear that the novel is really about the importance of maintaining freedom of thought, even (or especially) in times of near-uniformity of opinion. Rolland, who had earlier won the Nobel Prize in literature, was called the conscience of Europe by Stephan Zweig. Clerambault provides ample evidence for that claim and stands as a strong defense of individuality against oppression by the masses, as well as a passionate plea for peace both between and within nations.

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