ABSTRACT
Anti-fascism and a love for India are amongst the many links that bind Romain Rolland and Andre Malraux. Romain Rolland was, very early on fascinated by the great heroes but, unlike Malraux, his heroes were not Alexander and Napoleon, but Michelangelo, Beethoven and Tolstoy. In the preface to his correspondence with Jean Guelhenno in The Independence of the Spirit, Malraux wrote the following about Rolland: 'Romain Rolland has two distinct bodies of work. A Michelet raised to the highest level, as are Romain Rolland and Guehenno. Romain Rolland, sent his message in January 1936 when his friends celebrated his seventieth birthday, presided over by Andre Gide. Romain Rolland immediately takes the high road with a mystical vision, or one that is spiritual, extolling an imminent transcendence without which transcendence is reduced to ashes. Romain Rolland and Andre Malraux represent two major moments in the history of the mind and in the meeting between ancient Europe and eternal India.
